


Famethyst Adventures

by Sapphy_Hibernis



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Holly Abuse, Jasper Redemption (Steven Universe), Jasper healing, Other, The Diamonds - Freeform, The Topazes, Why do I do this, and jay, cute steven, dream powers, garnetxamethyst if you squint really really hard, i am appearently very good at writing angst, im an asshole to holly, lapidot - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2018-12-11 15:36:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 45,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11717328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphy_Hibernis/pseuds/Sapphy_Hibernis
Summary: After the events of the trial Blue Diamond moves the famethyst and Holly Blue to earth, the crystal gems find them, and shenanigans insue, but are they all as happy as they appear?





	1. Pilot

All the Amethysts, Jaspers and Carnelian were staring out the window of Blue Diamond’s personal ship as it soared through the stars.   
Twinkling and glimmering like their very own gemstones. They chatted and joked as they watched the comets whiz by and the asteroids float endlessly in space. 

They wondered what was going to happen to the zoo now that there’s no more humans. A horrible sickness had swept through the humans that had been under their care. They had done everything they could to help them but the humans had never been sick before. The zoo was always clean and bacteria free, the humans didn’t have immune systems at all. So it didn’t take long before the laughter of the humans to become coughing and vomiting, then silence. 

The gems endured endless berating from Holly about what Blue Diamond would do if she found out the humans got sick under their watch. It scared them all to think that they might be shattered for something they didn’t know the cause of. 

They worked tirelessly to try and help the humans, but nothing worked. Holly even tried to help them with the humans, she was scared too, they tried their best but slowly the humans started dying one by one until there were no more humans left in Pink Diamond’s zoo. 

All of the humans had died from the illness, it caused mass panic amongst the gems. They didn’t know how mad Blue diamond would be when she found out. 

Blue Diamond had shown up at the zoo in a panic a few days after the last of the humans had died, her normally elegant silky hair was messy and untamed. Her usually clean, wrinkle-free robes in messy disarray, her normally saddened icy blue eyes were wide with fear and panic. 

They had never seen a Diamond in such a state, and they didn’t want to know why she was like that either. 

She had skipped formalities all together and quickly ordered them all to grab the rose quartz bubbles and anything they might want as fast as possible. None of them wanted to argue with her so the quickly gathered all the bubbles into her ship then grabbed their old, worn, but still soft pillows and blankets from their cubbies. 

 

They all got on the ship when she ordered them to move out. They did a role call to make sure everyone was there before she started the ship and sent them all soaring into space faster than they had ever gone in their lives…

However as they soared off they could vaguely see the tiny dot of Yellow Diamond’s ship approaching the zoo…


	2. The Arrival

Holly Blue Agate had never thought she would be taken from that annoying place. The zoo, while under her management, felt more like a punishment than anything else. She knew that Pink Diamond’s zoo was important to Blue Diamond and she was more than ready to do anything to please her Diamond. 

However when having to deal with the beta gems and the Amethysts, it felt more like a punishment then simply supervising the zoo to keep it functional. They completely disobeyed her rules and were nothing like good quartz soldiers should be like. 

She turned from the window to look up at her Diamond. Ice blue eyes with diamond shaped pupils stared out of the window of the ship navigating with centuries of practice. Pale hair hidden by shadow casted by the dark blue cloak Blue Diamond always wore over her head. 

“My Diamond if I may ask, what is all this about?” Holly asked curiously. 

“Yellow and I got into a huge fight and she decided to destroy the zoo, killing all of you in it, I couldn’t let her do that” Blue Diamond explained sadly while not looking at Holly. 

“My word!” Holly exclaimed shocked that Yellow Diamond would take to such drastic measures over a little fight. 

“I’m taking you all someplace safe where I know Yellow wouldn’t dare look for you” Blue explained. 

“Ah yes of course my wonderful and merciful Diamond, you always know exactly what to do” Holly said as she returned to looking out the window. 

The Amethysts and betas were chatting amongst themselves, they didn’t know where they were going or even why, but they were excited and didn’t hide their excitement one bit. They shared their fantasies about where they were going and chatted aimlessly about whatever came to their minds. 

“Hey guys look its earth!” Jay exclaimed happily as she spotted their birth planet. 

The others looked out the window excitedly, they hadn’t ever thought they would get to see earth again after the war ended. Conversation quickly got onto a single topic as they all discussed what they would do when they landed. 

Two things they could all agree on, they wanted to see their little overcooked Amethyst sister, and they wanted to see their kindergarten’s again. One thing no gem could deny is that there’s no comfort like that of your own exit hole in your kindergarden. 

Blue Diamond approached the fields where the last stand of the war had taken place. Now overgrown with large red berries and lush green leaves that twinkled when sunlight hit the morning dew, mist covered the area mysteriously but large weapon handles could be seen poking through the greenery and the mist, metallic surfaces gleaming dangerously in the sunlight. 

She landed her arm ship as gently as she could before ushering all the gems out, the Amethysts, Betas and Holly Blue all looked at her as if to ask ‘what now?’

“You’ll all be safe here, I’m going to hide the rose quartz bubbles on another planet, stay safe” She gave them all a gentle smile, the smaller gems all widened their eyes, they were sure if Blue Diamond were to smile in happiness, she could power all of homeworld with the beauty of her smile. 

They all gave her one last salute as she got back in the ship, the blue arm rose into the sky and took off with a boom that dissipated the fully white clouds of earth’s atmosphere, leaving all the Amethysts, beta gems, and Holly Blue standing in the berry covered battlefields. 

They all stood like that for hours, staring at the sky as it turned from sunrise to sunset then to the dark, star-lit night. It was like they were waiting for her to come back, but they knew that she wasn’t coming back. 

After a while they broke up into groups, Skinny mumbled something about the Amethyst’s being cliquey, even though she was clumped together with the other Jaspers, and little Carnelian. 

Chip sat with the Amethysts, even though she wasn’t one of them, sure she had emerged in the prime kindergarden right with them but she wasn’t an Amethyst, she was a Raspberry Quartz, it always made her insecure, and Holly Blue’s constant berating and insults didn’t help her confidence at all. Her chipped tooth didn’t help with her confidence either. 

Chip saw Holly sitting a ways away from any other gem, she was sitting by herself leaning up against a large battle-axe that had been left in the field all those centuries ago. 

She some reason she couldn’t understand, she felt bad for Holly. The she had the Amethysts, after all they were her sister, and even Carnelian had her beta sisters, but Holly didn’t have anyone. 

Chip quietly moved away from her prime sisters and walked towards Holly, she didn’t know why she felt so compelled to comfort her, but she knew she wanted to do it. 

Holly saw a pair of shoes in front of her, she looked up to see the single Raspberry Quartz with the chipped tooth that she was always scolding for running in the halls. 

Her first thought was to scold the quartz for approaching her so confidently, but then she remembered she didn’t have the authority to boss any of them around anymore. 

She wondered why the nervous quartz had even approached her to begin with, was she going to get back at her for all the times she scolded her? The quartz just shuffled some dirt with her feet looking nervous, Holly couldn’t help but feel a bit impatient. 

“May I help you?” She asked a little more annoyed then she intended to sound. She definitely did not want to irritate all the quartz’s now that she didn’t have the threat of telling Blue Diamond on them and getting them in trouble, they could so what they pleased and she didn’t have an advantage anymore. 

“I um….” The quartz trailed off nervously, Holly found herself growing rather impatient waiting for her to spit it out already.

“I w-wanted to invite you to j-join us” She stuttered out nervously, bright pink eyes shifted downwards from nerves, dark tinted strawberry hair shining in the light of the earth’s moon, raspberry colored skin bathed in the moonlight. 

Holly was stunned, she had never expected that to be the reason the timid quartz had approached her, she thought maybe the quartz’s wanted revenge on her for all those centuries of scolding and yelling. Holly had never actually whipped them, the most she had done was wrap them up in her whip and unravel it quickly which sent them spinning out of control for a few moments until they were literally dizzy. 

Holly was nothing like her superior agates, like Shadow Agate, who had been the commanding officer of the prime kindergarden of earth, where the Amethysts and this one Raspberry Quartz had come from. She knew she was nothing like Shadow Agate, Shadow Agate was ruthless and wasn’t afraid even to poof gems who didn’t do exactly what she said and when. 

Holly had never even dreamed of doing such merciless things, she knew the whole purpose of an Agate was to terrify lower gems into doing their jobs, but she could never bring herself to be as mean as other Agates were. 

She guessed that made her off color too, just mentally instead of physically. She wasn’t nasty, hurtful or merciless. Mean and bitchy yes but she wasn’t like other Agates. She guessed that was the real reason Blue Diamond assigned her to the physically off color quartz’s at the human zoo, but she couldn’t even get that right.   
She looked up at the Quartz, she was by far the most timid out of the bunch of rowdy earth quartz’s and Holly never really took the time to notice before now. Bright pink eyes stared into her own icy blue ones, obviously waiting for a reply. 

“I’m sure the others want nothing to do with me” Holly replied trying to keep the sadness out of her voice. 

Truth be told she had always been jealous of the quartz’s she managed. They had each other like a big family, none of them were ever alone for long it was hard to feel sad when you have forty gems trying to cheer you up. Holly never had anyone, she was supposed to stay above them as their supervisor, but she often found herself longing to join in and joke around with the quartz’s. Another reason she’s off color, she had reasoned. 

“P-Please join us… You l-look really lonely over here” The Quartz stuttered out nervously, Holly was surprised, she hadn’t thought that the quartz’s had been watching her at all. 

“Well I guess I could spare a few moments” She replied trying to cling to the hopeless dream of being a proper Agate. Her eyes widened when a raspberry colored hand reached out to her to help her up. She looked up at the nervous quartz and hesitantly took her hand.   
The Amethysts and Betas looked at Holly with surprised stares and wide eyes. They hadn’t realised that Chip had slipped away to talk to Holly, or even dreamed Holly would come sit with them, but in a way it was comforting that Holly felt comfortable enough to agree to it at all. 

She sat down nervously beside Jay as Chip went to go sit with Sharky. Holly knew their nicknames from overhearing most of their conversations over the zoo camera feed, but she always acted like she could only remember their cut codes. 

The quartz’s started chatting again, which wasn’t unusual but Holly could tell they had changed their conversation quite a bit now that she was sitting with them. She listened quietly, secretly happy that Chip had asked her to join them, even if it was very awkward now that she was sitting there. 

“Yeah I wonder what Yellow Diamond’s reaction was to seeing the zoo completely abandoned” Jay chatted casually, they had decided the Diamonds were a safe topic to discuss with Holly sitting right there. However Sharky decided to be very, very bold.

“Probably along the lines of, ‘finally! She’s stopped pouting now I can get back to working on my ego” She smirked devilishly, but her bright violet eyes widened in shock along with the rest of the quartz’s as they turned to look at Holly, who was laughing at what Sharky had said. 

They were all stunned, they never thought Holly would laugh at such a crud comment, especially about one of the Diamonds, but there she was, laughing so hard she actually teared up. 

Holly was laughing, she was laughing for a reason none of them knew, they thought she found it funny, in all honesty, Holly knew what Yellow Diamond had wanted at the zoo, and she was laughing because all the quartz’s had no idea was Yellow Diamond had planned to do to them. Truth be told she didn’t know why she was laughing, it just felt nice to laugh for once she guessed.

They all smiled as the awkward air dissolved. It was nice to know that Holly wasn’t too different from them, it was comforting.


	3. Famethyst Adventures Survival Guide

This isn't a chapter, I'm sorry about that, but while working on the new chapter i had to start coming up with nicknames for all the Famethyst because we cant call them all amethyst that wouldn't work very well.  However while making up nicknames for them all i realised that my readers might be lost on who the nicknames belong to so ive made a list of all the nicknames, including cut codes, hair color, gem placement, etc.  That might help you while reading the story. 

**Jay – 8XJ**

• Gem on left bicep

• Violet skin

• White-lavender hair

• magenta eyes 

**Sharky – Sharp toothed amethyst (Some of the Amethysts call her Cheeky sometimes)**

• Gem on right cheek

• Violet skin

• White hair

• Light pink eyes 

**Chip – Raspberry quartz with chipped tooth**

• Gem on left shoulder

• Raspberry skin

• Dark strawberry hair

• Bright pink eyes

• Chipped tooth (nickname sake) 

**Kay – 8XK**

• Gem on chest

• Lilac skin

• Mauve hair

• Light pink eyes 

**Ellie – 8XL**

• Gem on right bicep

• Violet skin

• White-mauve hair

• Blue-violet eyes 

**Ella – 8XE**

• Gem on left hand

• Lilac skin

• Light pink hair

• No colored iris 

**Tee – 8XT**

• Gem on left cheek

• Lilac skin

• Dark lilac hair

• No colored iris 

**Gina - 8XG**

• Gem on right hand

• Lilac skin

• White hair

• No colored iris 

**Ray – 8XR (Shes the Amethyst seen with Chip in gem heist)**

• Gem on right hand

• Lilac skin

• light pink hair

• no colored iris 

**Leah – 7XL (Shes one of the guards seen at the entrance of the zoo)**

• Gem on left shoulder

• Lavender skin

• Light lavender hair

• Violet eyes 

**Rain – 7XR (Shes the other guard that's was with Leah)**

• Gem on right shoulder

• Lavender skin

• Light-mauve hair

• No colored iris

 

_**Skinny – Skinny jasper** _

• Gem on navel

• Light orange skin

• Red stripes

• Very light yellow hair

• Bright yellow eyes

_**Carnie – carnelian** _

• Gem on left shoulder

• Red skin

• Dark magenta hair

• Light orange eyes

_**Bee – 4XB jasper** _

• Gem on Left thigh

• Light Orange skin

• red stripes

• creamy orange hair

• light orange eyes

_**Si** _ _**a (sigh-ah) – 4XS jasper** _

• Gem on chest

• Pale orange skin

• Pale red stripes

• White hair

• Orange eyes

_**Stripes – really striped jasper** _

• Gem on Back of left hand

• Pale orange skin

• Lots of Red stripes

• White hair

• Bright orange eyes

 

**(I promise to update as soon as possible)**


	4. Crystal Gems

(Hey everyone, before I start today I just want to call your attention to my new tumblr blog where you can go and ask the famethyst questions https://askthefamethyst.tumblr.com/ )  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Morning came, so did the quiet noises of earth life around them. Mist surrounded the fields as the Famethyst slept peacefully, they had all decided to sleep instead of stay awake the entire night. 

Holly awoke to a chime in the distance, it sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place where she had heard it before. Her hair had fallen out of the two neat buns she had them in, falling in loose ringlets that framed her face and covered her neck. 

She looked around nervously, she didn’t know what the chime had been, however she could hear a conversation in the distance. The voices sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place them either. 

Panic filled her entire being as she quickly shook Jay and Sharky awake. They groaned, Jay’s magenta eyes fluttered open, Sharky’s own light pink eyes right afterwards. 

They both blinked sleep out of their eyes as they saw Holly’s worried face hovering above them. They sat up quickly, nearly making Holly fall backwards out of surprise. 

“What’s wrong Holly?” Jay asked quickly, they both knew that you can’t look that worried over nothing. 

They suddenly tuned in, hearing voices not too far away from where they were. They narrowed their eyes before summoning their weapons, they didn’t know if it was a threat or not, and frankly they didn’t want to leave it to chance. 

Jay gently pushed Holly behind them, gripping her scythe tightly. The pale purple metal gleamed dangerously in the light of the rising sun, dark purple, vine like features spiraled up the handle and over the top of the scythe. She hadn’t needed to summon her beautiful yet dangerous weapon in thousands of years, it felt so, right, to have her weapon in her hands again.

Sharky stood beside her, tight grip on her own, double sided battle-axe. Two dark purple blades, sharpened to fine, deadly points, light purple handle, dark purple engravings of stars and comets in the handle. She as well, hadn’t summoned her weapon for thousands of years, but it felt natural to be holding the deadly weapon again, just as she was made to do. 

They stood protectively, Holly and their sisters behind them as they stood to face whatever might come their way. Deadly weapons in hand, ready to strike at a moment’s notice if it was indeed a threat. They narrowed their eyes as the shadows of beings appeared, peeking out from behind a large gem weapon that stood forgotten in the strawberry fields. 

The shadows grew larger and larger, the voices louder and closer. Jay and Sharky gave a quick glance to each other, mentally agreeing that if it was a threat, they would attack without hesitation to protect their sisters, and their Agate, who in the span of one night, had weaseled her way into their hearts as one of their own. 

Eyes widened as a head of pale purple hair peeked out from behind the large weapon. It was 8XM, their shorter sister who had emerged late. She seemed to see them too as her eyes widened as well. Soon their weapons disappeared in shimmers of light as she ran to them, kneeling down to greet their runt of a sister in a big, affectionate hug. 

“Jay! Sharky! What are you two doing here!?” She exclaimed happily, she thought she would never see her prime sisters again, but here they were, on earth, with her! 

“Blue Diamond came to the zoo in a panic, she brought us here then just kinda left” Jay explained casually as they hugged their smaller sister. 

“Yeah, the others are here with us too” Sharky added as she motioned to the rest of the quartz’s behind them who were all starting to rouse from sleep.

Amethyst gained stars in her eyes upon seeing that all of her sisters were on earth, not just Jay and Sharky. She smiled like a doofus as she let herself be hugged by her bigger sisters. 

“It’s nice to see you all again” Garnet’s voice startled the two larger amethysts, they knew Amethyst wasn’t alone but they hadn’t realised the fusion was with them. 

“Nice to see you too, um…” 

“Garnet” 

“Right, sorry we never caught your name last time we met” Jay apologised politely. 

“It’s alright, we were a little, distracted” Garnet replied, the thing with Holly Blue Agate was definitely a distraction in a category all its own.

“Hey guys wake up look its 8XM!” Kay shouted from behind them, it was obvious that all the Famethyst were excited to see their little sister again.

Soon Amethyst was engulfed by a hoard of fluffy hair, large, buff bodies embraced her in a huge group hug from all her sisters. She couldn’t believe it, they were all there! Gina, Ray, Rain, Leah, Ellie, Ella, Kay, Sharky, Jay, Chip, Tee, Skinny, Carnelian, Bee, Sia, even Stripes. They were all there, on earth with her, she wouldn’t have to be separated from them again.

Pearl watched Amethyst as she interacted with her sisters, she found it amazing how they had accepted Amethyst automatically, overcooked and everything, she knew Amethysts were fun-loving and very accepting but she had never seen it in action like this.  
Something, or rather, someone, blue caught her eye, she looked over and there stood a very nervous Holly Blue Agate. She smirked in her direction upon remembering the very savage exchange of words she had left with the gem during their last encounter. 

She was about to walk over and talk to the nervous blue gem, maybe be a bit smug about her savage speech. However she saw the single raspberry quartz break away from the group with two of the larger Amethysts, they walked over to the nervous Agate and started talking to her. She watched carefully as they were apparently trying to calm the nervous gem. 

She looked up at Garnet then over to Steven who was getting official introductions from Amethyst, she was busy telling Steven what the nicknames for each individual Amethyst were. 

She smiled, Amethyst had every right to be happy, and all her sisters were on earth with her, she knew there were probably thousands of things Amethyst wanted to show her long lost sisters. 

Holly’s breaths came quickly, Jay and Sharky continued to rub her back in circles, trying to soothe her out of her panicky state, she was about on the verge of a panic attack. Chip whispered soothing words into her ears, she tried to steady out her breathing but she was having such a hard time. This had only ever happened a few times in the past, even then she had always locked herself away in her office and would end up passing out, such a disgustingly human thing to do, but it sometimes happened. 

The three had noticed Holly’s ragged breathing and had gone over to see if she was alright, they thought the appearance of the crystal gems might have caused her some distress. They had gone over to the panicking quartz, bringing her into warm embraced, rubbed her back in soothing, circular motions. Chip whispered sweet words into Holly’s ears as they all tried to calm the panicky quartz. 

They didn’t know what the cause of her panicky behaviour was, but they were trying their best to calm her down. They had grown a bit close to Holly over the course of the night they spent talking and laughing by the fire they had created. 

Whispers of ‘it’s ok Holly’ and ‘we’re here’ came from the three of them as they continued their attempts to soothe her. They were glad when their efforts started taking effect. 

Her breathing slowed, shoulders relaxing from their tense position, icy blue eyes opened looking at the three of them as a small, gentle smile graced her face. They all blushed, they had never seen Holly actually smile before. They had seen forced smiles when Blue Diamond visited and she was trying to pretend she had a firm handle on everything at the zoo, but they had never seen an actual, genuine smile before. 

Her smile was beautiful, soft, and gentle. It graced her face elegantly, corners of her mouth tipping upwards in a kind, affectionate smile. They were sure that Holly’s smile could light up all of homeworld if she tried. They decided right then and there, that they wanted to see Holly smile as much as possible from that day on.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
(I’m sorry it’s short, I need to get back over to Strange Happenings to write the next chapter I promise to try my best to make the next chapter longer)


	5. New Home

Amethyst’s room was a mess, her room is always a mess but she doesn’t usually have her hoard of sisters with her in her room. They were wandering around, exploring the mountains of junk she had collected over the years, they kept complimenting her on how balanced the piles were despite it all being garbage. 

She had decided to show them her room when they had gotten back to the temple, Garnet told her that Lapis and Peridot would be less then pleased if the Famethyst decided to stay in the barn, so they decided they would stay in the temple. 

Pearl and Garnet offered to build them their own room in the temple, she was very thankful her teammates were being so nice to her sisters, she had just gotten them back after all. 

~Holly POV~

I sat on the couch, it was a simple white couch, definitely not as comfy as the couch in my office had been, but I guess it’s alright. The Pearl was staring at me, she looks so smug its making me irritated. At the same time it’s also making me nervous.

Jay and Sharky are with the smaller Amethyst and I don’t know where they went. I’m all alone with the fusion, the human and the smug Pearl. The human keeps approaching me every now and then, offering me human food and drinks. Doesn’t he understand gems do not eat? The Pearl just stares at me smugly, it’s like she knows how to get into my head and cause me stress and she is definitely succeeding. 

I can’t help but feel scared, with the Amethyst’s around I felt like they would protect me, they seem to like me now, I think… I hope they like me now…

The fusion starts walking over, I know there’s no place for me to go, all I can really do is sit here and pretend I’m not terrified. She seems concerned, however it’s hard to be curtain with that visor over her eyes. 

I can feel another panic attack coming on, and this time Jay, Sharky and Chip aren’t here to help me calm down. The fusion sits beside me, I guess she can tell that I’m starting to panic, as embarrassing as it is for me to think she can read my emotions so easily. 

I nearly dissipate my form when she places a hand on my shoulder, my breathing picks up even more, I’m on the verge of passing out now, oh my stars I’m so scared. 

I can’t steady my breathing, I’m going to pass out if I can’t get myself under control, oh stars where are they, they calmed me earlier, I need them. The fusion and the human look worried for me, the Pearl just looked concerned. 

I can’t calm myself, fear and panic are hand in hand as black consumes my vision as I pass out. 

~~back to third person POV~~

Garnet quickly caught the quartz as she started falling to the floor, she knew there was a possibility of Holly passing out, but she hadn’t thought it would be the path that came to be. She gently lay Holly down on the couch so she could rest, the last thing she wanted was for Holly to be uncomfortable. 

She turned and went towards the door of the temple, opening it into her room before walking in and making her way towards Amethyst’s room. She could tell the Amethysts and Jaspers had taken a liking to Holly Blue and she knew they would want to know that she had passed out from a panic attack. 

She walked down the hall, she remembered Holly blue being so confident, a suck up maybe but definitely confident. It was strange seeing her so easily spooked, she had nearly dissipated her form just by being touched on the shoulder. 

Garnet entered Amethyst’s room, they were running everywhere, she had never seen Amethyst’s room this messy, and it was normally very, very messy. 

She walked over to Jay and Sharky, those two seemed closest to Holly so she believed they should know first. They looked up at her as she approached them. 

“Hey Garnet, how’s Holls doing?” Sharky asked casually. 

Holls? Garnet knew it was a nickname for Holly but she didn’t know when nicknames for the tense Agate had become a thing. However it was proof that the Famethyst had grown quite fond of Holly Blue during their time in the strawberry fields. 

“She passed out” She replied bluntly, she was a straight to the point kind of gem, no need to beat around the bush.

Their eyes widened as they looked at each other, they seemed to be having a silent conversation. Light pink eyes met magenta as they stared at each other. They quickly stood, yelling to Amethyst that they were going to check on Holly before running out of the temple as fast as they could. 

The two Amethysts burst out of the temple door in a hurricane of purple skin and fluffy hair. They rushed over to Holly, who lay unconscious on the couch, they sighed in relief upon seeing she was alright and silently sat on the couch with her. 

Sharky gently moved Holly so her head rested in her lap, they started silently playing with her hair, letting it out of the two tight buns and into soft, wavy hair. 

They spent hours running their fingers through her soft, silky hair. The rest of the Famethyst joined them later on, all of them were wondering when Holly would wake up. 

Garnet and Pearl had dragged Amethyst and Steven away to help them make the new room inside the temple, leaving the Famethyst to their own devices. They didn’t end up doing much, they stayed in a tight group around the couch to keep an eye on Holly. They would never admit it but she had really grown on them.

Holly stirred, nose twitching, eyes scrunching as she slowly awoke from her slumber. 

Violet eyes opened, looking up into the magenta eyes of Jay, Sharky sat beside her, still running her fingers through Holly’s soft, pastel blue hair. She didn’t know when they had gotten there, but she was thankful that they were there now. She sat up slowly with Jay’s help. 

“Are you ok?” Jay asked, dark eyebrows pushed together in concern. 

“I think so” Holly muttered so softly they almost missed it. 

“Get nervous when we’re not around Holls?” Sharky asked as she slung an arm around Holly’s shoulders.

“Holls?” Holly blinked in surprise, she didn’t know they had come up with a nickname for her. In a way it was kind of nice, Holls, it was actually quite nice.

“Yeah Holls, it’s your new nickname” Sharky replied proudly. 

“You know Holly, we were really scared when Garnet told us you passed out” Jay said as she started playing with Holly’s hair again.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to worry you” Holly replied, she felt bad that she had caused them such worry.

“Aw don’t worry Holly we forgive you” Soon Holly was engulfed in a sea of Amethysts, Jaspers and Carnelian as they hugged her happily.

“So what happened while I was out” Holly said as she tried to suppress the blush that was blossoming across her cheeks. 

“Well Garnet said we’re staying here” Jay explained, breaking away from the hug as the others started to explore the house, now that Holly was awake, the tense atmosphere had dissolved.

“Yeah they’re making us a huge room in the temple! We’re all gonna live in it!” Sharky exclaimed in excitement.

Holly shivered, she felt very cold for some reason, and she didn’t usually feel cold which is why she was confused as to why she was so cold at the moment. 

“Oh Holls are you cold?” Jay asked worriedly.

Sharky sat in the corner of the couch, she pulled Holly into her lap, wrapping strong, violet arms around Holly’s waist. Jay soon joined them, coming up on Holly’s other side hugging her. 

“We can keep you warm Holly” Jay smiled, they truly had grown to love Holly.


	6. Beach Fun

It had been a few weeks since the Famethyst had arrived on earth, but every day they found something new and fun. They would often goof off and play in the sand and the water, splashing each other and just enjoying themselves, it was like a fun vacation. 

Holly was different, she never joined in even though she desperately wanted to, she hated being alone, something Agates normally enjoy and look forward to. She guessed that just made her even more off color then she already was. She sat on the deck of the house, watching them all play happily. 

Garnet would offer her drinks and food, it was the one thing Holly seemed to enjoy about this place, and it was something she had in common with the quartz’s. However, they did have different tastes in food and drink. 

She preferred spicy food but sweet drinks, the Amethysts preferred spicy food and fizzy drinks. The jaspers preferred sweet foods and warm drinks, and Carnelian preferred sour foods and only a specific drink, lemonade. Why anyone would make a drink out of the sour, earth fruit would never cease to puzzle her. 

Holly’s drink of choice was usually something that Garnet called tea, it was sweet and flavourful, and Garnet would always bring her a big jug of it and leave it on the table so she could have some whenever she felt like it. 

Her panic attacks kept coming frequently, Garnet guessed it was culture shock, whatever that was, but Holly had a strong bet that it was something to do with the Pearl. 

It had gotten so bad that the Amethysts made her promise to stay within their line of sight at all time so if she started panicking they could get to her quickly to calm her. They always did without fail, every time she started to panic, they would be by her side in mere moments. Strong but gentle hands rubbing her shoulders and back soothingly, sweet, comforting words whispered in her ears, fingers undoing her hair buns, letting soft hair flow down past her shoulders, gentle fingers running through her hair.

She looked out, the Amethysts were playing in the water as usual, splashing and tackling each other into the water. She longed to join them, but she didn’t know where she stood with the muscular gems, was she a friend? An acquaintance? She had no idea and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out. 

“What’s wrong Holls?” Holly jumped, she quickly turned and saw Sharky standing there, a two-piece bathing suit clinging to her muscular body as water droplets run over her violet skin. 

“H-How long have you been standing there?” Holly mentally winced for stuttering, such a human thing to do, she hadn’t even heard Sharky climb the stairs to the deck.

“Only a few minutes, you looked sad so I came to see what was wrong” Sharky replied as she pulled out a chair and sat down in front of Holly. “And don’t you dare say that nothing is wrong because I know that there is” Sharky added sternly.

Holly sighed, Sharky had called her lie before she had even said it. She looked down, violet eyes locked on the wood of the deck, she didn’t want to admit that she was lonely, the last thing she wanted to do is seem clingy. 

“Just a bit lonely is all” She admitted after a moment, she hadn’t wanted to seem clingy but she knew Sharky would be able to tell if she was lying, she was such a terrible liar. 

“Why didn’t you say so?” Sharky asked confused before she grabbed Holly’s hand and dragged her down the steps towards the others.   
“W-What are you doing?” She mentally kicked herself for stuttering.

“We’re gonna keep you company, you better change though or your clothes are gonna get really wet” Sharky replied as she dragged Holly to the others. “Hey guys! Holls is feeling lonely!” She called over to the others as Holly blushed in embarrassment.

Jay came over, pale blue two-piece bathing suit showing off all her curves which made Holly blush. Holly looked down at the sand, trying so hard to will away her blush.

“You could have just said so Holly, we’re more than happy for you to join us” Jay smiled, her hair was wet, sticking to the sides of her face and neck, her one stubborn curl draping over her shoulder, soaked but stubbornly retaining its shape.

She brushed some of her wet hair out of her face in annoyance, Holly could have guessed the long floof the quartz’s had to live with must be hard to deal with when swimming. 

“I can do something with your hair, i-if you want” Holly offered shyly.

“Really? That would be great Holls” Jay smiled as Holly walked over shyly.

“Um, can you, kneel or something? I can’t reach” Holly felt weird asking Jay to kneel, even if it was just to do her hair.

“Oh of course, my Holly” Jay grinned before kneeling in front of Holly.

Holly blushed, Jay hadn’t exactly said ‘my diamond’ but it was close enough to make her blush like a love-struck Ruby. She shyly stepped behind the large quartz and started messing with her hair. Running her fingers through the fluffy, white-lavender hair. 

Jay sighed in content, her face showing complete relaxation. Feeling Holly’s fingers running through her hair felt so nice she couldn’t help but enjoy it. 

Holly ran her fingers through the wet mess of hair, how they managed such long hair she would never understand, sure her own hair went down to the bottom of her shoulder blades when it wasn’t up in her usual tight buns, but their hair was down past their hips. 

They all watched Holly curiously, quartz hair was well known for being untameable, they wondered what she was gonna do. 

Holly didn’t have any hair pins on hand so she made do, twirling Jay’s hair around and tying it into a simple pony tail, it fluffed out at the end but it seemed to do the trick and stay out of her face. 

“Thanks Holls” Jay hugged the blushing Agate.

“Me next” The rest of them shouted at once, Holly’s eyes widened, she hadn’t expected them all to want her to do their hair.

“I can only do one at a time so um… Form a line and I’ll do your hair” She replied nervously, they had never listened to her when she asked them to line up for roll call every morning she didn’t know if they would listen now.

After a while she had successfully fixed all their hair, it wasn’t easy but she was able to tame their wild locks to a curtain degree. 

“Hey Holls, I got the swimsuit book Amethyst gave us” Sharky said as she pushed the magazine into Holly’s hands. “why don’t you pick one? It would be a shame to get your clothes all wet” Sharky smirked.

Holly leafed through the magazine, a bit unnerved by all the stares. She eventually found a bathing suit she quite liked, with a small shimmer of light her clothing disappeared leaving her in just a two-piece bathing suit. She blushed in embarrassment as they all stared at her, the pale blue swimsuit hugged her body, it showed off her breasts quite a bit further adding to her embarrassment.

“Wow Holls you look great!” Jay smiled as the rest of them added in their own compliments.

Holly smiled, she was glad they liked it, even if she did feel quite strange to be wearing such little clothing. 

She yelped as she suddenly found herself being lifted into the air, Sharky had picked her up and was walking quickly towards the water.   
Sharky tossed her in the water, smirking by the time Holly resurfaced.

Holly quickly splashed her in retaliation which started a huge splash fight, everyone joined in, it was a splash fight free for all.

Holly found herself enjoying it, splashing the Amethysts and running around, it was fun.


	7. Fights and Hurt Feelings

Holly trailed behind the group, all the Famethyst were following Garnet, the crystal gems had just returned from a mission only to bring them all to a place called the “barn”. It turned out they were going on another mission which was supposed to take a month at least and they didn’t want the huge group of gems left alone for that long. 

She saw a building getting closer, it seemed to be made from wood with several things sticking out of it, had she seen this just a few weeks ago she would have poofed from sheer disorganization. 

She followed them inside none the less, Jay and Sharky flanked her at both sides protectively, Holly had told them that most of her panic attacks were triggered by her nervousness around Pearl and they had taken measures to be close to her whenever Pearl was around.

Pearl remained smug as ever, the Amethysts were starting to get irritated with her attitude towards Holly, they had grown very protective of her and didn’t like Pearls smug smirks towards the nervous Agate. They started having bad attitudes towards Pearl that Garnet never confronted them on, Garnet had long since figured out why Holly was getting so nervous and wasn’t going to stop the Amethysts unless it went too far. 

“Peridot! Lapis!” Steven called out as they entered the building.

“STEVEN!!!!” A small green gem tackled the half human to the ground in a tight hug as a blue one followed calmly. 

Holly recognised the blue one as a Lapis Lazuli, though she hadn’t seen one in centuries. 

The lapis looked at the large group of gems for a moment before turning her attention back to Steven. “Steven who are they?” 

“They’re our friends from the zoo” He explained happily

“Amethyst look! This is what you’re supposed to look like!” Peridot exclaimed excitedly as she looked over all the large quartz soldiers.   
“Yeah I kinda noticed” Amethyst said from her perch on Kay’s shoulders. “they’re my sisters from the primes kindergarden” She stated proudly.

Soon after introductions were finished the Crystal Gems departed on their next mission, leaving the Famethyst alone at the Barn with Lapis and Peridot. 

While the Famethyst had followed Peridot outside to listen to her and gush about the cute faces she made. 

Holly was left inside with Lapis, who wasn’t too happy about Holly being there. Holly started looking around the barn, looking for something to do since it was obvious lapis didn’t want company.

She searched around for a while, keeping quiet as to not disturb the annoyed gem. She didn’t know why Lapis was so annoyed and she didn’t want to irritate her more then she had to. 

Lapis had experiences with Agates that she never wanted to remember, however with Holly showing up, having to stay there under Garnets orders, Lapis was less then pleased. 

It didn’t matter what the nervous Agate did, Lapis was getting increasingly more annoyed, memories of her own experiences stirring in her mind and projecting her hate of Agates onto this specific Agate in the vicinity.

Holly eventually gave up in finding something to do and sat down in a reclining chair, at first, she was started when the brown, leather chair tilted backwards but soon settled into it and got comfy. Lapis however wasn’t happy that the Agate was sitting in her chair. 

“Can you move?” She asked annoyed.

“O-Oh yes of course” Holly quickly moved from the chair, a blush of embarrassment creeping across her cheeks as she moved away.

“Stupid Agates thinking you own everything” Lapis muttered under her breath, Holly was shocked when she heard it, Agates have sharp hearing and Lapis knew it.

“E-Excuse me?” She felt to pathetic, she had stuttered twice in this conversation alone. 

“I said you think you own everything!” Lapis shouted at her, she didn’t want to look weak in any sense of the word, Agates had done nothing but hurt her in the past she wasn’t going to let it happen again.

“No, I don’t” Holly defended

“All Agates are the same” Lapis huffed “Mean, abusive, hurtful, and they love to make you think they care” Lapis glared down at her “I see right through you”

Hollys eyes widened, shocked that Lapis, a gem she had never met before, was comparing her to someone like Shadow Agate, Shadow Agate was all the things she had just listed. Holly had been mean, hurtful and somewhat abusive in the past but it was nothing compared to her superior. 

Holly felt herself tearing up, she felt so weak letting such things get to her but it hurt so much to be compared to her abusive superior when she was trying so hard to leave that behind.

“Stop with the pity act” Lapis glared

Holly could feel tears slipping down her face, she spun on her heel and ran out of the barn, had someone talked to her like this weeks ago she would have summoned her whip and cracked it near their foot in warning, but now she felt weak and insecure like a newborn ruby.

She ran past all the Amethysts, hiding her face in her hands as she ran. The Amethysts stared after her in shock, Chip was the first to react, running after Holly without hesitation. Jay and Sharky soon followed while the rest of the Famethyst turned towards the barn, wondering what had made Holly so upset.

They found Lapis lounging comfortably in her chair and grew angry. 

“What did you do?” Carnelian demanded

“Just told her the truth, Agates are abusive, mean and deceptive” turning her nose up slightly while looking at them.

“She was mean before but she’s not anymore!” Skinny exclaimed, they were all angry that Lapis had been so mean to Holly

“Calm down, Lapis was just telling the truth” Peridot said going over to defend her roommate “Agates are abusive and deceptive” Peridot had her own experiences with abusive Agates before and didn’t have any reason to believe that Lapis was wrong.

“Maybe other Agates are but not Holly, she’s a bitch sometimes yeah but she’s not abusive” Leah glared

“Then how did she punish you? They’re supposed to terrify they can’t do that without physical punishment” Peridot had many experiences with an Agates whip back on Homeworld, she didn’t know any better.

“The worst she would do is wrap us up in her whip and spin us until we were dizzy, she’s not abusive” Skinny defended

“That’s rich, Agates don’t mess around like that, they take any excuse to punish lower gems” Lapis glared, her experiences with Blue Lace Agate were always harsh. Blue Lace Agate was well known for making up excuses to hurt other gems just for fun.

“Holly isn’t like that” Kay glared back, Holly had never been anything like that, the Amethysts had Shadow Agate before going to the zoo, they knew what a regular Agate was like, Holly was nothing like Shadow Agate.

“She can’t be anything else!” Lapis exclaimed, all her memories of Blue Lace Agate surfacing in painful flashbacks.

“Back off! You’re upsetting Lapis!” Peridot yelled as she glared up at them, she didn’t like that they were doing this, they had been so nice and carefree just moments ago.

“What about Holly!? Lapis upset her so much she ran off crying!” Rain glared own at the smaller gem, they were not happy anymore.

“Its deception! Like Agates always do to gain sympathy!” Lapis yelled, Blue Lace Agate was also well known for making gems believe things she said when she obviously didn’t mean them.

“I thought Prime quartzes were supposed to be proper, but no you’re just as defective as the beta gems!” Peridot yelled, old habits die hard.  
All the quartzes eyes widened, Peridot had been so sweet just minutes before, now she was calling them all defective to their faces. It hurt more then they thought it would, Holly would call them all defective but she hadn’t done it in a while, they thought they were used to being called defective, it had become a joke to them, but to hear Peridot say it like that hurt them all. 

The Jaspers and Carnelian were especially hurt by this, they knew they were defective, didn’t mean they liked hearing it said aloud.

To prevent further insults and hurt feelings they all quickly left the barn in search of Holly, they knew Chip, Jay and Sharky had followed her and wanted to go make sure she was alright.

Holly sat in a field, she wasn’t too far from the barn, but just far enough so Lapis couldn’t continue to hurt her feeling mercilessly. She jumped feeling three hands settle on her back and shoulders, she looked up seeing Chip, Jay and Sharky, they all looked worried. 

“You ok Holls?” Jay asked

Holly sniffled, she felt so weak and vulnerable, she hated feeling this way, especially in front of the Famethyst. 

“What happened?” Sharky probed

“Nothing” Holly hid her face in her arms

“Hey guys you’ll never believe the shit Lapis and Peridot were just saying” Skinny said as they hurried over to them

“What did they say?” Sharky asked confused, Skinny didn’t normally swear, sure they all did, but Skinny usually had very clean language for one of their group. She must have been really mad to swear like that.

“Lapis was talking about how Holly is like every other Agate, accusing her of being abusive and deceptive” Skinny started “And when we started to defend her Peridot jumped in and ended up calling all you Amethysts just as defective as us beta gems” She finished 

“She what!?” All of them turned to Holly with wide eyes, Holly sounded pissed.

She looked up, blue eyes narrowed in anger, tears gone from her eyes now that a new emotion had overtaken her hurt feelings. How dare Lapis and Peridot call them defective, she had called them defective in the past yes but she came to see that they were all amazing in their own ways. It sounded so mushy for an Agate to think this way but she was angered that Lapis and Peridot had insulted her quartzes so openly to their faces.

Her Quartzes? When did that start?

She stood quickly, startling Chip and Jay who hadn’t expected her to stand up so suddenly. She stormed back to the barn as the group of quartzes followed quickly

Upon entering the barn Lapis and Peridot looked up from whatever they were doing. When Lapis saw the anger written all over Hollys face she smirked.

“Come to prove me right?” She asked smugly

“No, I didn’t, I came to give you both a piece of my mind” Holly started, angered blue eyes narrowed at the two gems as she turned her nose up so she was literally looking down her nose at the two, standing in tradition Agate fashion, a pose they only used when they wanted to intimidate or show their anger.

“You may think whatever you like of me, you can insult me, accuse me, and just be a huge bitch to me all you want, but never, EVER, insult my quartzes, that goes for you and your little Peridot” Anger shone in her blue eyes as the quartzes watched in stunned silence. 

Lapis eyes widened, she had never seen an Agate this mad about one of their underlings being insulted before.

“I know I’ve been a bitch for a long time, they’ve put up with my bullshit for thousands of years. I don’t care what you say or think about me but never insult them. They’re strong, friendly, kind, strange, and they look out for each other and for a bitchy Agate who never did anything but get on them about every little thing they did wrong, don’t you dare call them defective, they’re prefect quartzes, they protect, they serve loyally, they would fight tooth and nail for what’s right, they’re perfect, even if you don’t agree” Holly was panting, she didn’t need to breathe but the rant had gotten her so worked up she felt like she needed to pant, let out any left-over steam.

Lapis and Peridot were shocked, neither of them had ever seen an Agate lash out in defense of gems under their command before. Their cheeks burned with embarrassment, they had been so set in their minds about what Agates were like they had insulted their friends, and insulted Holly without getting to know her first. 

“I’m sorry Holly… My past experiences with Agates hasn’t been the best” Lapis looked down, she had a bad habit of getting irritated with new gems without giving them a chance. She had been right about Navy, but not right about this.

“I’m sorry too, my Agate wasn’t exactly nice” Peridot winced remembering all the times she had been punished by Yellow Moss Agate.  
Holly’s eyes widened, she hadn’t realised their mean comments were based from previous experiences. Even her own superior, Condor Agate, wasn’t the nicest gem. She felt bad for yelling at them now, they had just been thinking about how horrible past experiences were, and what things she might be doing to the Famethyst.

“I’m sorry as well, I shouldn’t have yelled, I know most Agates aren’t the nicest gems” Holly looked down, Condor Agate had poofed her several times on complete accident during routine inspections of the zoo, the primes and betas had messed up rooms she had cleaned to get her in trouble. However, she doubted they knew what they were resigning her to when they did that. 

In the days that followed, they had talked about past experiences, the Famethyst shared stories about the weird things Holly did at the zoo to punish them, the Amethysts had shared with everyone. Hesitantly Lapis and Peridot shared their own stories about what their Agates had done to them, Holly listened quietly. The stories were brutal, Agates weren’t nice gems, that was no secret, every gem from Homeworld knew it. 

Holly didn’t bother to chime in with her own stories, they assumed she didn’t have any anyways. Holly had also been on the receiving end of punishment by her superior Agates, but none of them needed to know that, and she was more then happy to keep it a secret.


	8. Heroes, Confrontations, and Cuddle Parties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/askthefamethyst if you have any questions for the Famethyst then feel free to ask away

The barn was buzzing with excitement, quartzes running around trying to get comfy as Lapis and Peridot set up the entertainment for the evening. Holly stood off to the side, she didn’t feel it was her place to invite herself to join them, even after her episode the other day with her defending them.

Lapis and Peridot had brought the TV down for everyone to watch, they had found a box of old movies Steven had left there and had decided to watch. However only Lapis and Peridot knew how to work the TV so they were in charge of setting everything up. 

Peridot had taught the quartzes how to make popcorn after they had found the microwave they kept there for Steven. They were curious about it so Peridot took out the box of popcorn Steven left there for his visits and taught them how to make it properly.

The quartzes had searched the barn for blankets and cushions and now they were all settled on the floor near the TV, buttery popcorn in hand and ready to see what this ‘movie’ was.

Lapis put the movie in and sat in her favourite chair, Peridot joined her soon after, cuddling up with lapis under their favourite navy-blue blanket. The blanket was old, raggedy, it was something Amethyst had found in her room and gave to them as a present and they would cuddle under it every night while watching Camp Pining Hearts. 

The movie started, Lapis had put in The Amazing Spider Man, it was Peridots favourite superhero movie out of the ones they had. The quartzes watched the TV curiously as the company logos went across the screen.

Holly stood off to the side, watching the TV but not sitting with the group. Holly wanted to join, that was always the problem, she wanted to join but never felt as if it was her place. 

Sharky saw Holly out of the corner of her eye and looked up at the saddened Agate. She reached over and grabbed Holly’s hand, dragging the startled Agate to sit in her lap.

Holly squeaked in surprise, she hadn’t been expecting Sharky to do that. Sharky wrapped her arms around Holly’s waist and rested her chin on Holly’s shoulder. Holly started to relax, Sharky was quite warm and it was very comforting.

They all watched the movie, the quartzes would ask questions, Peridot and Lapis would do their best to answer, sometimes Peridot would start complaining about something in the movie that was ‘unrealistic’.

By the time they were halfway through the movie Holly and Sharky had been joined by Chip and Jay, the rest of the quartzes forming their own cuddle piles as they watched the movie curiously. 

The movie ended, Lapis got up and turned off the TV while Peridot took all the empty bags of popcorn and threw them out. Sharky went to get up when a small noise broke the silence, it made everyone freeze. 

After a moment, everyone realised that Holly had fallen asleep and she was now snoring softly with her head against Chip’s shoulder.  
“She’s actually quite cute when she’s sleeping” Carnelian whispered

“Gotta agree with you on that” Skinny replied, not moving from her spot behind Carnelian.

“I don’t want to wake her up” Jay whispered, she knew if they moved Holly would wake up, and right now none of them wanted to wake her.  
“I’m totally ok with that” Sharky replied as she settled into a comfortable position and closed her eyes.

Soon they were all fast asleep, snores filled the room as they all slept in warm cuddle piles throughout the barn.

The sound of the warp pad woke them, they could hear birds outside and muffled talking. The voices grew louder as they got closer to the barn, soon they all recognised the voices of the crystal gems.

They all rose from their cuddle piles on the floor and stretched as the voices grew louder. Soon the crystal gems rounded the corner and came into the barn.

“Good morning” Steven greeted

“Hello Steven” Peridot replied

“Sup” Sharky greeted

“Suh dude” Carnelian gave a little salute

“Hello, Holly” Pearl smirked

The quartzes glared at Pearl with hatred as Holly started shaking. Chip was quick to start calming Holly but the rest stood up, anger raging in their eyes as the glared at the smug gem.

Garnet picked up Steven and Amethyst and backed away slightly, she saw several visions where this could turn physical and she was not taking any chances of Steven or Amethyst getting hurt in what was not their business. 

Garnet also saw several visons of Pearl being poofed during this conflict but didn’t move to stop it, Pearl wasn’t being very nice to Holly, even though Holly hadn’t done anything wrong since they found the group of quartzes.

“Now look here” Jay started 

“It was funny when you told Holly off back at the zoo but now your smugness is really starting to piss us off, Holly is nervous enough without your smug smirks and comments so just back off, or we’ll make you” Sharky threatened

Pearl looked shocked, she hadn’t expected such hostile responses after what she saw Holly do and say to the Famethyst while at the zoo, but they seemed very angry, and she knew not to anger a quartz if you didn’t want to be poofed or worse. 

She raised her hands in surrender and backed away a few steps “Alright I’ll back off, I didn’t mean to upset you I’m sorry” she tried to appease them

“It’s not us you need to apologise to” Skinny snapped

“R-Right right” She stuttered as she turned to look at the shaking Agate “I’m sorry Holly, I’ll be nicer from now on” she hoped that would be enough to appease the angry quartzes.

They didn’t look completely satisfied but they turned their attention away from the scared Pearl and back to Holly. They gathered around her, giving her comforting touches and whispering soothing words in her ears. They cuddled her, calming her in their own quartz-ish way.

Holly soon relaxed amongst the cuddle party the Famethyst had started, her shaking stopped and she let them cuddle her, warm embraces and soothing words, she felt a smile spreading across her face, sweet and genuine. 

The quartzes noticed her smile and all started blushing, her smile was adorable, small, humble compared to the large, goofy grins they usually had plastered on their faces. It was sweet, so small it was almost like it wasn’t there, but it was unmistakably a smile.

They had made Holly Blue Agate smile, and it was one of the prettiest things they had ever seen in their lives.


	9. The Important Question

Soft snores filled Steven’s house, quiet but still audible, the snores of quartzes filled the house, leaving no room for silence whatsoever.   
The Famethyst had taken to sleeping on the floor until their room was finished. However, they wouldn’t let Holly sleep on the floor so they made her sleep on the couch with Sharky as her big buff bodyguard.

Steven’s cookie cat alarm clock went off, loud ringing roused the sleeping quartzes with annoyed groans. Holly sat up and rubbed her eyes gently, she was a light sleeper and definitely a better morning gem then the quartzes surrounding her. 

She gently stepped around them, careful not to step on any of them, or their untameable hair. The last thing she wanted was for them to hang it over her head the whole day that she had stepped on their precious hair by accident. 

She went to Steven’s bathroom as she heard the small half gem yawn and turn off the annoying machine. She looked in the mirror and curled her lip in disgust, her hair was a mess! It fell down her shoulders in messy half-curls, she looked like that horse with the horn from that movie Steven forced them to watch with Pearl the night before. 

The Agate was still not fond of the thin gem, she wasn’t being smug anymore thanks to the hostile reactions from the Famethyst, however her apology had been half-assed at best and as hard as she tried, the Agate was still nervous around Pearl.

She picked up the brush Amethyst had found for her and tried to tame her hair, it proved to be more of a challenge then she had expected. She ran the pretty wooden brush through her hair gently, dark brown wood made up the back and handle of the brush, it was smooth in her hands like Sharky’s ski- She shook her head quickly as her cheeks heated up furiously from the violet blush that covered her face. She quickly changed her thoughts to other things, she needed to fix her hair. 

Brushing through her hair gently, untangling her hair and making it as smooth as the wood of the brush. After wrestling with her messy hair for a good twenty minutes it was back in her usual neat buns. White at the tips, the dark blue ring around the middle before fading into light blue then back into white. 

She exited the bathroom only to find the quartzes wide awake, mugs of coffee around the room being the cause of their hyper state, most were shapeshifting into different animals seen in the books Steven had given them, others shapeshifted into creatures from the movies they had seen since arriving on Earth. 

“Hey Holls!” Sharky hugged her from behind suddenly causing the startled Agate to jump slightly in surprise

“Sharky! Don’t sneak up on me!” She blushed upon realising she had risen her voice and quickly lowered her head, looking towards to floor “I’m sorry…” 

“Woah Holls, its ok, no harm done” Sharky smiled reassuringly, sharp teeth flashing in the light.

“Hey Holls!” Kay ran over to them excitedly, she had shapeshifted into the wizard boy from the movie they had seen last night. “Shapeshift into the unicorn!” She exclaimed, hyper as can be.

“Me? Shapeshift into a horse?” Holly felt disgusted at the thought, she had seen horses on that ridiculous camping show Peridot and Lapis were obsessed with but they were filthy and dirty all the time, not the animal for her.

“Not a horse Holls, a unicorn! They’re magic, they’re special, they’re just right for you” Kay smiled “Come on Holls, for me?” She broke out the puppy eyes, Steven had taught all the quartzes how to use them to get what they wanted from Holly, and so far, they hadn’t failed.

Holly tried to resist, as she always did, but soon she sighed in defeat, she could never say no to the puppy eyes they could make. The quartzes were just too darn adorable sometimes, they were going to be the death of her someday. “Fine”

Suddenly, the whole pack of quartzes erupted into cheers and shouts of “GO HOLLY!”. Holly would have been startled, if she wasn’t already used to their antics.

Her form glowed, she could feel her body shifting, fingers melding together to turn into hooves, clothes vanishing, pale blue skin turning into fur. Her buns that she had just done quickly lost shape and fell into the same loose locks as before, a long, smooth horn grew from her forehead, spiraled with dark and light blue before turning into white. A long tail grew, a tuft of hair appearing at the end along with on the backs of her legs, just above her hooves. 

The light subsided and the Famethyst’s eyes widened, jaws dropped, hearts stopped, Holly looked so beautiful, like a true creature of myth, they were speechless. They couldn’t stop staring at her beautifully flowing mane, white which faded into dark blue then to light blue at the ends, delicate, periwinkle eyes half hidden by dark blue eyelids that stood out against her pale blue fur. 

Holly took their silence as a bad sign and looked down slightly “I must look ridiculous” she sighed, she felt so silly for giving in so easily

“No of course not Holly!” Jay blurted out, finally finding her voice

“You look amazing Holls” Sharky added

“Absolutely beautiful” Chip chimed in

Encouraging words and nods of agreement, assuring her how beautiful she looked, Holly was stunned, she had thought they weren’t saying anything because she looked stupid, but she realised that they had been speechless, it was flattering to think she had stunned them into silence. 

Holly soon shapeshifted back to normal, fixing her hair into neat buns once more as the quartzes calmed down from their coffee induced rush. She sat on the couch watching the quartzes mess around on the laptop Steven had lent them, she didn’t understand the quartzes fixation on the electronic device but she found it cute how excited they got when playing around on it. 

The sound the temple door drew their attention from the device and to the source of the noise. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl stood in the doorway, the quartzes could easily see the bubble room behind them, it was obvious they had been in a meeting of some sort. 

“Hey Amethyst” Jay piped up, they had taken to calling their overcooked sister Amethyst since that’s what she had been called for years, and using their nicknames as actual names so there wasn’t any confusion. 

“Hey!” Amethyst greeted happily

“We have an important question for all of you” Garnet spoke up finally, looking stoic as usual.

“Well what is it?” Sharky asked curiously

“Do you guys wanna join the crystal gems!?” Amethyst asked happily, hoping that they would agree to it. 

All the quartzes agreed, verbally or just a simple nod of the head, every quartz except Holly. The Famethyst turned to look at the silent Agate, she hadn’t agreed, but she hadn’t said no either.

“Whatcha think Holly?” Jay asked

Holly tensed, eyes wide in fear, she didn’t want to say no, she might break what fragile friendships she had with the Famethyst, she didn’t want to say yes either, for fear of Pearl getting even more intimidating.

“Woah Holls you’re turning white, I didn’t think that was possible” Sharky commented 

“Don’t think you can do it Holly Blue?” Pearl asked smugly, she knew just what button to push, even if it risked taking the wrath of the quartzes

“I can so! Fine I’ll be a crystal gem!” Holly exclaimed in a burst of confidence, only existing to stand up to Pearl. The confidence was short-lived however as Pearl’s smirk grew causing Holly to duck behind Jay, her and Sharky being closest to Holly meant she used them as a shield often when it came to the smug Pearl. 

The quartzes glared at Pearl, hatred in their eyes for the pale gem. Pearl suddenly lost her smug façade, moving slightly to put Garnet in-between herself and the quartzes. 

Garnet knew what Pearl was doing, and she was not pleased to be a shield, she moved away from Pearl and over to Jay, looking behind the confused quartz to see Holly hiding her face in her hands, shaking like a leaf. 

“You don’t have to join if you don’t want to Holly, you can be neutral if you want” Garnet offered kindly, she had taken the time to notice Holly’s change in behaviour since she and the Famethyst started staying with them, and she felt sorry for the scared Agate, even if said Agate had a small army of quartzes willing to defend her with everything they had. 

“N-no, I’m a gem of my word” Holly looked up at the tall fusion, oddly, she felt more comfortable around the fusion then around Pearl, even if logically, Garnet could do more damage to her then Pearl ever could. 

“Are you sure?” she asked, she didn’t want Holly to feel pressured into doing anything because of Pearl.

“I’m sure” Holly replied, she didn’t like to back out on things.

“Alright, then looks like we have more crystal gems” Garnet smiled, Steven and Amethyst cheered, smiles all around.

Over the next month the Famethyst started joining the crystal gems on their missions, each one of them had been on several missions, except for Holly. Garnet decided Holly wasn’t yet ready for something as stressful as a mission, she wanted Holly to get more confident with being on earth, and being around Pearl, before she went on missions, it didn’t sit too well with Holly. 

“GARNET I’M TELLING YOU I’M FINE! I CAN GO ON MISSIONS!” Holly screamed, she had been cooped up in the temple for the past month, and she was going crazy. 

“You’re not ready to go on missions yet Holly” Garnet replied calmly, she didn’t want Holly to panic while on a mission, it would divide everyone’s attention and make the chances of someone getting hurt skyrocket. 

“Why not!?” Holly shouted, she didn’t want to be babied anymore, she wasn’t some fragile human.

“Because you’re not ready” Garnet replied

“I am ready!” Holly argued

“Alright, fine, if you want a mission so badly, I have a super important one just for you” Garnet replied calmly, Holly relaxed instantly, Garnet had peaked her interest.

“Yes?” Holly asked

“It’s Vidalia’s birthday, it’s a human celebration, Steven and Amethyst want to make her a cake, but we need more milk” Garnet said as she took some money from Pearl and held it out to Holly “We need you to go get the milk for the cake” 

“done” Holly replied quickly, taking the money from Garnet’s hand before the fusion had the chance to change her mind.

“You’ll be going around the beach, to a store called the big donut, they sell milk there, get it and bring it back, this is important Holly” Garnet instructed

“No problem” Holly replied, she had no idea what she was doing, but she wanted to prove she could handle herself.

She quickly left the temple, she looked down at the paper Garnet had given her, she had been taught about money that humans used, but she hadn’t exactly seen it before now. 

She slowed down as she walked along the beach, her white heels sinking into the soft sand, making it hard to walk. With a small shimmer of light her heels turned into white flats, she liked her heels, but they weren’t very good on Earth.

She walked along the beach, soon she saw human buildings, fear started to set in. Maybe Garnet was right, she wasn’t ready for this, humans made her so uncomfortable.

She saw a building, a big circle thing on top of it. She guessed it was what Garnet had been talking about, it said ‘The Big Donut’ on it, after all. She walked up to the building, hesitating at the door, she could see a woman inside, blonde hair, she seemed to be cleaning the counter. 

Holly walked in nervously, still uncomfortable despite it only being one human. A bell of some sort went off, startling the blue gem to the point of shaking. The woman turned around, blonde hair moving from the draft the movement created.

“Welcome to the Big Donut” She greeted

Holly was confused, wasn’t the human confused by a gem walking into the building? She had blue skin, she doubted that humans saw blue skin on a regular basis.

Holly hesitated, she didn’t know what to say, she wasn’t at the zoo anymore, she couldn’t just pretend she couldn’t understand the humans when they speak. She actually had to talk with them.

“I-” She had to take a breath to steady herself, she was starting to panic again, she didn’t want to faint just because of a human, what would Garnet say then? “I need m-milk” 

“Oh, of course” The woman replied politely as she pointed towards one of the large boxes against the wall. “Milk is right in there”

Holly didn’t know what they were, they looked like the fridge thingy that Steven had at the temple, but there was only one door, and it had a window on it for some reason, showing the contents within.

She walked over to the boxes and looked inside, finding a small white box inside that said milk, along with several others that looked alike but all of them seemed different at the same time.

She grabbed a white box with black and blue details on it, maybe an earth animal? Holly didn’t know. She walked to the counter as the woman opened the black thing on the counter.

“That will be three dollars please” The woman said politely

Holly quickly put the paper Garnet gave her on the counter, snatching the box of liquid up as quickly as possible, growing more and more frightened by the second.

The woman smiled nicely as she messed with the weird black box, it made a ding noise which made Holly jump. “Have a nice day” the blonde wished her.

“Y-You too” Holly stuttered as she hurried out of the building, quickly back along the beach.

Rushing across soft sand was not her smartest idea. She tripped over something hidden in the sand and hit her head off a rock. It hurt really badly, she winced as she sat up, putting one hand to her forehead as the other hand searched for the milk. 

She noticed feet standing in front of her, some sort of shoes on the feet, not much of shoes, more like just soles with some string going over the toes. She looked up and saw it was the older human that had escaped the zoo with the crystal gems. 

He seemed scared, maybe he recognised her? She didn’t know but she could feel herself starting to panic again and it wasn’t pleasant.

“You’re not here to take me back to space are you?” He asked nervously

“W-What? No I’m not” Holly was surprised, she knew her kind was made for instilling fear but she had never seen someone this scared of her when she hadn’t even threatened them, she was basically kneeling at his feet from the way she had fallen in the sand, it was quite humiliating to be bowing to a human, even if it was by accident.

“That’s good” The human smiled, relaxing quite a bit as he offered a hand to the embarrassed gem on the ground. 

She looked at the hand quizzically for a moment, not understanding the gesture at first. After a moment, she realised he was offering to help her up, she blushed violet in embarrassment after realising the reasoning behind the gesture. She hesitantly took his hand as he helped her to her feet.

“Thank you” Still nervous, she found the milk and picked it up quickly, brushing sand off the container. She didn’t want Garnet to know of her little trip into the sand.

“No problem” the man smiled, he seemed more relaxed now.

Holly brushed the sand off her clothing, trying hard not to look at the human, she was nervous enough without looking him in the eyes. “I should get back” she muttered.

“Alright, well… Have a nice day” he replied before walking away in the opposite direction of the temple

Holly hurried back to the house, getting more and more relaxed the further she got from the town. Up the wooden steps and into the house, the Famethyst were up in the loft watching something on Stevens television. Garnet sat on the couch reading a book of some sort, Steven and Amethyst stood in the kitchen talking about something Holly didn’t understand.

She walked over calmly and placed the milk on the counter, looking over at Garnet for some sort of approval. All she got was a thumbs up. 

Holly sighed, climbing the stairs to the loft, she felt physically and emotionally exhausted. She couldn’t even stay standing, collapsing into Sharky’s lap, surprising all the quartzes. Sharky was about to say something when Holly curled up against her stomach, soft snoring starting from the now sleeping gem.


	10. The First Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holly's first mission

Holly followed the Famethyst, she trailed behind them, desperately trying to catch up, the branches and rocks on the ground tripping her as she tried to keep up with them. 

Sharky looked back, watching the blue gem struggle to get through the wilderness. She smiled in amusement and walked over to Holly, picking her up and holding her in her arms gently. “Need help Holls?” 

Holly blushed “T-Thank you” 

“No problem” Sharky smirked as she carried Holly up to where the others stood waiting. 

They were on a mission, Holly’s first mission to be exact, they were climbing a mountain to try and find the corrupted gem at the top. It was hard for them to imagine the corrupted gems had all been just like them at some point, it was chilling. 

After walking for a while Sharky set Holly on the ground, there would be less things to trip on now that they were out of the forest. 

“I don’t see any monster” Carnelian said as they all looked around

She was right, there was no corrupted gem in sight, it was confusing to all of them.

“Garnet said it would be here” Jay replied as they continued looking around

Suddenly, a roar erupted from the forest behind them, they all looked back to see the large gem monster charging at them, they scattered in all directions to avoid the monster as it charged, full speed, through where they had just been standing. 

They all summoned their weapons, Holly hesitated for a moment, she hadn’t summoned her whip since the crystal gems raided the zoo, it felt weird to summon it now.

“HOLLY WATCH OUT!” Holly snapped out of her thoughts at Ellie’s voice, too late as the monster’s tail hit her right in the stomach, sending her flying backwards into the woods.

“HOLLY!” she could hear them all cry out in unison, they were worried about her?

She quickly got up and ran back to the battle, the monster seemed distracted with the others, she quickly summoned her whip, looking at the monster. She hesitated, her quartzes were in danger and she was hesitating! Her quartzes? When did that start?

‘What is wrong with you Holly!? They could get hurt! Or worse!’ She scolded herself

She snapped out of her thoughts and raised her whip to attack the monster, upon hearing the crackling of electricity from her whip, the monster turned around, slime covered teeth bared in her direction. 

Holly tensed, jumping away as the monster swiped a clawed limb at her. She had dodged the claw easily, but not the other clawed limb that came her way. 

She could hear their worried shouts as the claws caught her face, the force of the strike sending her tumbling across the ground away from the monster, whip falling from her grip as she fell. She could feel her artificial blood pouring from the wounds, dark blue in color as it stained the creamy white stone beneath them. 

She slowly started to get up, hair falling loose from her buns. She could hear her quartzes fighting the monster, she couldn’t open her right eye, it hurt too much from the blow. She could hear shouts of warning to Carnelian, the unmistakable sound of a gem being poofed. 

Her left eye opened, fierce determination burning in her periwinkle iris as she glared at the monster with rage. That monster had poofed Carnelian, she was NOT going to let that go!

“I’M OVER HERE!” She shouted, effectively gaining its attention

She could only see out of one eye, a huge disadvantage, but she wasn’t going to let this thing hurt any more of her quartzes.   
“COME AND GET ME YOU CLOD!” she swore angrily, shocking the quartzes

The monster roared, as if offended by what she had said, it charged at her. Claws scraping against hard stone, jaws snapping, slime slipping from its fangs. Holly ran towards it, hair coming fully undone. She could hear them calling out to her, telling her to watch out, asking her what she was doing, what she was thinking. 

The monster reared its head, going to bite Holly, she hit the ground, the momentum from her charge sending her sliding across the smooth stone, right under the monster’s scaly belly. She reached her whip, picking it up as she stood, the monster turned to face her, angrier then ever. 

She glared at it, artificial blood staining her uniform as her one open eye started at the monster, molten periwinkle glaring at the monster as she readied her whip, electricity cracking from the weapon as the monster stood, glowing green eyes boring into hers as they glared at each other

“Let’s play chicken” Holly said dangerously, thinking back to the human game Lapis had explained to her, feeling it appropriate for the situation. 

The monster snarled, charging at the injured blue gem, Holly charged as well, both on a collision course with each other. The monster growled, head low, ready to eat her if she tried to slide under it again, but Holly never used the same trick twice. 

At the last second before they collided, Holly ducked to the side, snapping her whip to wrap around the monster’s foreleg, she ran around the monster quickly, tripping it with her whip. The monster growled loudly, Holly extended her whip, moving too fast for the large monster to keep up with. She wrapped her whip around its neck, pulling roughly.

A large puff of smoke, the gem of the monster making a cling as it hit the stone. 

Holly fell to her knees, exhausted, the right side of her face throbbing in pain. 

The quartzes ran over to her, the monster was swiftly bubbled, cheers went up all around. Holly smiled, standing up, excitement filling her as they cheered. She started cheering with them, she was just so happy and excited. 

In her excitement, she hadn’t been thinking, as she swiftly grabbed the closest quartz to her, which just happened to be Jay

and kissed her full on the lips.


	11. The Aftermath

(Warning, this one will short, I just want to get it out so I can start working on the next chapter, more fun things are to come and I’m excited to get started)

 

Jay flushed dark purple, she had not been expecting the kiss, but what an amazing kiss it was! Holly’s eye widened, pulling away and backing up away from the quartz. 

Jay was in the clouds; Holly’s lips had been so soft against her own, she felt like she was walking on air. Holly was dark purple herself, apologising profusely for the kiss, which snapped Jay out of her daydream. 

“No no, Holly don’t be sorry” She tried to soothe the Agate, the kiss had been amazing, she definitely did not want Holly to apologise for it.

“Are you sure?” Holly asked nervously, she had just kissed Jay without a single thought, she was embarrassed she had done that without even thinking, wasn’t Jay mad at her?

“Positive, that was some kiss” Jay purred as she walked closer to Holly

Holly blushed even more, if it was possible. Jay walked right up to Holly, looking down at the shorter Agate as they stood, chests touching from the proximity. Jay wrapped her arms around Holly, resting them on her lower back as she kissed the Agate on the lips. 

Holly melted like metal under an angry Ruby’s feet, the kiss was so nice, Jay’s lips were soft, but strong, if that even made sense, nothing made sense at the moment. 

Jay pulled Holly closer, deeper into the kiss, they couldn’t hear the cheering of their companions, it was like the world around them had faded away, just leaving them, and the amazing kiss they were sharing together. 

Soon, Jay pulled away, smiling at Holly. The world faded back in, startling them with the loud cheers of the other quartzes. They both blushed happily, Jay not removing her arms from around Holly, refusing to completely leave the moment. 

Suddenly a light drew attention, Carnelian was reforming. All of them watched, waiting patiently for Carnelian to return to them. The light compressed, moving around as Carnelian contemplated her new form. 

Soon the red gem was back, she wore a comfortable looking uniform, it still held a Blue Diamond, their loyalty to the Diamond that had saved their lives not once, but twice, had not wavered. However, a star sat behind the Diamond, the Diamond sat in the middle of it, showing her newfound status as a crystal gem. 

“What’d I miss?” She asked, surprised seeing all the grins and smirks around her. Holly and Jay being the exception, their faces were dark purple, flushed in embarrassment.

“Carnelian you missed it!” Stripes shouted happily

“Missed what!?” Carnelian exclaimed confused

“Holly kissed Jay” Sharky smirked

“WHAT!? HOW DID I MISS THAT!?” Carnelian whined

“You also missed the make out session afterwards, Jay pulled Holls back in” Kay added

“THE ONE TIME IM POOFED!!!!” Carnelian shouted in annoyance

They all laughed, the poor quartz had missed it, the moment had been magical, for more then just Jay.

“Don’t worry Carnie, we can fill you in” Skinny reassured patting Carnelian’s head in pity

The group descended the mountain, the quartzes were in a buzz over the kiss. They told Carnelian all about it, the small red quartz was surprised when she heard how mad Holly had gotten after she had been poofed, how angry she had been that the monster had poofed her.   
She almost couldn’t believe it, Holly had hated her just mere months ago, now just the sound of her being poofed threw the Agate into a rage that had only been satisfied with the poofing of the monster itself. 

Carnelian started to decrease her pace, falling behind the excited group of quartzes, back to where Sharky and Jay trailed behind the group, carrying the injured Agate. Sharky held Holly gently in her arms, Holly’s eye remained shut, artificial blood still dripping from the wounds.   
“Hey, Holly?” Carnelian started 

“What is it Carnelian?” The injured Agate asked, confusion prominent in her voice, exhaustion lacing it, showing how the wounds, combined with the fighting, had zapped her strength away.

“I wanted to say thank you, I know I had only been poofed, but you kept fighting, even with your injuries, because I had been hurt…” Carnelian looked down, feeling bad Holly had to keep fighting because of her. “I didn’t deserve it” 

“Of course you did Carnelian” Holly replied, looking sad Carnelian would think in such a way. “I kept fighting because I wanted to make sure your gem would be safe, so none of the others would be hurt, it had been my choice, you are worth it” she explained, trying to reassure the saddened quartz

“You really mean that?” Carnelian asked, bright, reddish orange eyes looking up at the blue gem hopefully  
Holly gave an exhausted smile, ruffling the hair of the short gem “Of course” She replied.

“Careful Holly, you’re hurt, we don’t want you poofing” Sharky warned

“We both know I’m going to retreat into my gem soon, with these wounds there’s no stopping it” Holly replied

The quartzes eyes widened, the talking from the others stopped suddenly, silence swept the area. 

Poofing was a normal thing, they all poofed on occasion, back at the zoo, Holly being poofed was a daydream, a good several hours without her yelling at them, but now… it made them sad to think that Holly would retreat into her gem.

“No need to go silent, I’ll be fine, its perfectly normal” She tried to soothe the saddened quartzes.

Pain suddenly swept over her like a wave from a lapis lazuli, she ground her teeth, eyes screwing shut from the intense pain. The quartzes huddled around her, trying to help, to take her pain away, but they knew it was pointless…

Holly looked up at them, periwinkle eyes looked up at them with pain and sadness, upset to see them so sad.  
‘Are they… crying?’ Holly asked herself

She could see tears in their eyes, it made her sad, to see them so upset, crying over her. She wanted badly to remind them that she will be back, but she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t move, pain exploded through her body.

She couldn’t hold on anymore, she let her for go, retreating into her gem, leaving only the gem behind.

The quartzes cried, Holly hadn’t died, but her being poofed made them so sad, not a single dry eye in the area, they all sobbed loudly, crying for Holly.

Jay gently picked up the blue gem, the memory of their magical kiss flashing through her mind, Holly being poofed hurt her the most after that kiss. She gently brought the gem to her face, placing a kiss on the smooth surface.

They slowly made their way back down the mountain, Holly’s gem in hand. Not a word was shared between them, watching Holly in pain… it was like being back at the zoo, every time a human died, they had kept Carnelian away from the dead humans, they didn’t want her seeing dead humans if they could help it, but she had seen Holly poof, they all had.

They went back to the warp pad, squishing onto the small surface, somehow getting them all on the warp pad. They warped back to the temple, happy faces of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven met them upon return.

“You’re back, how did it go?” Amethyst asked excitedly

“Why are you all sad?” Pearl asked confused

“Where’s Holly?” Garnet asked, none of her future visions had seen Holly not returning with them

Jay stepped off the warp pad, none of them smiling, she walked over to them, opening her hand to show Holly’s gem inside.

They gasped, even Pearl looked worried, if this wasn’t so serious, they probably would have laughed.

Steven felt sad, Holly had been really nice since they got there, he got the small basket from the area under the stairs. He hadn’t used it since Pearl had been poofed, he silently gave it to Sharky.

Sharky looked at the basket in confusion for a moment, then she noticed the soft looking pillow inside the basket, Jay places Holly’s gem gently on the pillow.

The quartzes gathered around the basket, not a single word spoken between them, it hurt Steven to see them so upset, hurt Amethyst to see her sisters so silent and sad, hurt Garnet, she should have foreseen this… Even Pearl was sad, she hadn’t been the nicest to Holly, she regretted it now.

Days passed, the quartzes hadn’t said anything since they returned, sitting around the basket silently, anxiously waiting for Holly to return, it was obvious they missed her greatly.

The four original crystal gems grew worried, it was strange to see the normally excited bunch of quartzes so silent. 

A glow captured the room, Holly was reforming! The quartzes looked at the gem, smiles growing on their faces the more the gem glowed.  
The blue gem lifted into the air, sparkling with power as she reformed, light expanding from the gem, solidifying into her new form. Hair recreated, flowing down past her shoulders in waves, thick lashes hid stunning periwinkle eyes, light blue skin reforming. 

She touched the ground, opening her eyes as her reformation finished. The quartzes cheered, hugging her happily, the original crystal gems smiled, even Pearl was happy to see the Agate back.

“Woah Holly nice star!” Amethyst shouted happily

The attention was drawn to Holly’s outfit, her little cape was gone, the blue diamond in the middle of her chest remained, but that wasn’t the focus of all the eyes in the room. 

On Holly’s hip, running from her waist to the top of her leg, was a bright yellow star, matching the one Steven had on his favourite shirt.

They smiled, Holly was officially a crystal gem, with the addition of the star, it was a nice addition to her outfit, they loved it.

The quartzes hugged her happily, glad she was back, glad she was ok.


	12. Proof

It had been several months since holly had been poofed, no one would talk about it, but the buzz from the kiss Holly had laid on Jay was still in full swing. Holly would always blush when it was brought up, but Jay would always brag that she was the first one to kiss Holly.

Holly had been gaining confidence, and gaining it quickly, she barely got any panic attacks anymore, she didn’t get as nervous around humans anymore, she even started standing up for herself around Pearl.

Pearl still bugged her though, challenging her whenever she could, it still made Holly nervous, even if she had been gaining confidence with leaps and bounds. 

The quartzes were playing on the beach, Steven, Amethyst and Garnet had joined them, making castles out of sand. It was amusing to Holly, she found it cute. She sat on the deck drinking iced tea happily.

“Not brave enough to join them?” The sudden voice made her jump, didn’t help that it was from Pearl. 

“Just don’t feel like it that’s all” Holly replied, regaining her composure.

“or too scared” Pearl challenged 

“I’m not scared” Holly snapped, she had enough of Pearl picking on her

“then prove it” Pearl smirked

“Pardon?” Holly was caught off guard, she hadn’t been expecting that

“Prove it, I challenge you to…” Pearl trailed off, looking around, she seemed to be thinking of something 

Pearl noticed something, she noticed a certain quartz, sitting by herself in the water. Pearl smirked, she had heard all about Holly and Jay’s kiss, and it gave her the perfect idea. 

“I challenge you to kiss Chip” Pearl smirked, Holly flushed purple, she hadn’t been expecting Pearl to challenge her do to such a strange thing.

“E-Excuse me!?” Holly blushed

“You heard me” The thin gem smirked “Kiss Chip, unless you’re too scared” 

Holly glared, she hated when Pearl did that. “FINE!” she exclaimed angrily, she hated being called a coward.

Pearl smirked as Holly descended the stairs angrily, she knew she had won, Holly would win the challenge but she would have convinced Holly to kiss Chip, and that was a reward in itself.

Holly walked through the crowd of quartzes, Garnet smiled at her as she walked by, she had probably seen a future vision of what Holly was about to do. It made her blush, Garnet always seemed to know everything, it was both reassuring and scary at the same time. 

Holly walked across the sand, getting more nervous with every step. Chip was a shy quartz, Holly worried what the shy gem would do if she randomly kissed her like she had done with Jay. 

Her stepped slowed, what if Chip didn’t like her anymore? What if she ruined her relationship with the shy gem? She didn’t want to ruin the relationships she had built with the quartzes, especially chip. 

She found herself growing anxious, was she really going to go through with this? Was she really going to kiss Chip? She walked over, waves gently lapping away at her feet, she could feel the stares of all the other quartzes on her, it made her even more nervous. 

“Chip?” Holly started

The shy raspberry quartz looked up at her, pale pink eyes shimmering in the light of the setting sun. Holly blushed even more then before, the golden rays of the Earth’s sun casting a beautiful gold glow onto the adorable quartz. 

“Could you stand up for a moment?” Holly asked nervously

Chip was confused, why was Holly nervous? 

‘Did I do something wrong? Is Holly upset with me? Is she going to tell me she wants nothing more to do with me? Please don’t let it be any of those, I don’t think I would be able to take it’ the timid quartz thought 

She stood, eyes casted downwards, not able to bring herself to look Holly in the eyes. Pink eyes trained on the ground, shoulders tense, scared that Holly was upset with her. 

She felt soft fingers running along her jaw, she blushed dark red. She felt Holly’s soft hands along her jawline, tilting her head up. She found herself staring into the beautiful periwinkle eyes of Holly Blue Agate, Chip couldn’t remember ever seeing someone with more beautiful eyes then Holly.

Chip had always loved Holly, even when she pushed them around an insulted them, she always held affections for the hostile, turned nervous Agate. Amethyst had told her on Earth her feelings were called a crush, she didn’t understand the strange phrasing, why would she crush Holly if she like her so much?

She looked into Holly’s eyes, wondering what the blue gem wanted, trying to keep her thoughts away from the feather-light touches the Agate’s fingers left on her jaw. 

Suddenly, Chip’s eyes widened, Holly’s lips were on hers, in a deep yet passionate kiss. She flushed dark red, Holly was kissing her! She couldn’t hear anything, not the cheers of her sisters, not the waves, not even those annoying birds that Amethyst called ‘Seagulls’. It was like the Earth wasn’t there anymore, just her and Holly. 

Chip was dark red, she didn’t even know what to do, she couldn’t react, she couldn’t move, she was, frozen. 

She was so shocked, she never imagined something like this happening, she didn’t even know what to do. She felt light headed, like walking on air, not that she knew what that felt like. All she could think about was Holly’s lips on hers, it was the most amazing feeling in the world.

But then she fell.

Holly stood surprised, Chip had fainted, she hadn’t expected that either, at the very worst she expected to be yelled at, but she had never expected the timid gem to faint. 

The other quartzes crowded around the red quartz, watching for any signs of her waking up. 

Sharky went to the water, picking up some of the water in her hands. She splashed it onto the fainted quartz, Chip flinched in her sleep, stirring softly. 

Pale pink eyes fluttered open, Chip looked up at them all, they stood around her, looking down at her curiously. Chip wondered why they were doing that for a moment. Memories flashed through her mind, reminding her of what had just happened, causing dark red to cover the freckles on her cheeks. 

She sat up quickly, looking around for the beautiful blue gem, her eyes fell on Holly, who sat right in front of her. “H-Holly” she squeaked, the blush on her cheeks growing darker from the humiliating squeak.

“Are you alright Chip? I hope I didn’t startle you too much” Holly replied softly, her voice was soft like the fluffy red hair atop her own head, for a moment Chip wondered if Holly’s hair was as soft. 

“Y-Yep” She mentally scolded herself, blushing darker when she heard the voice scolding her in her mind sounding like Holly whenever she would get scolded back at the zoo. 

“Stars Chip, are you sure you’re ok? That was quite the fall you took” Jay asked worriedly, always the ‘mom friend’ as Amethyst put it  
“She only fell on the sand” Sharky pointed out

“doesn’t matter, she could have hit a rock or something” Jay snapped, not in the mood for Sharky’s quips today.

Sharky raised her arms in surrender and walked away, soon the other quartzes broke up into play again after Garnet shooed them away. Chip and Holly were grateful of the fusion giving them much needed privacy. 

“I’m really sorry Chip” Holly started “I wasn’t thinking, you could have been hurt and i-“

Holly was cut off with another kiss, Chip had stood on her toes and kissed Holly in a burst of confidence. Holly blushed dark purple, but quickly relaxed into the kiss, Chip had soft lips, Holly could feel herself melting into it. 

Chip pulled away after a bit, both of them blushing, but not yet ready to pull away from the embrace they were sharing. 

As much as Holly and Pearl didn’t get along, ‘cats and dogs’ as Steven had put it, Holly was glad Pearl pushed her to kiss Chip, it had been amazing, especially the second time around.


	13. Evil, Evil Garnet

Holly sat quietly beside Chip, watching the events of the game unfold. Steven had insisted the quartzes do a ‘sleepover’ with him and the original crystal gems, the quartzes had just dragged the blue gem along with them.

They had been playing different games, none of which Holly understood, they now sat in a circle, playing a game called ‘truth or dare’.  
So far Amethyst had chosen dare, which resulted in her sitting in Garnet’s lap, the stoic fusion didn’t seem to mind, what confused Holly was that the fusion seemed to enjoy the company of the smaller gem sitting in her lap. She had her arms wrapped around Amethyst’s waist, hugging her gently, Amethyst didn’t seem to mind the contact either. 

“My turn!” Amethyst exclaimed excitedly from her comfy seat in Garnet’s lap “Pearl truth or dare?” Amethyst smirked evilly, Holly couldn’t help but feel that Pearl was doomed no matter which she picked.

“Truth” Pearl said suspiciously, she seemed to pick up on Amethyst’s evil intentions

“Why do you hate Holly?” She asked smirking

“I don’t hate her” she protested

“None of us by that crap Pearl” Amethyst replied

The rest of the quartzes nodded, Pearl was not the most popular gem amongst the quartzes. Pearl knew she wasn’t popular, but getting glares from several angry quartzes was never a good experience, she decided silence was the best option. 

“Fine, then it’s your turn Pearl” Amethyst gave up with an annoyed sigh

“Alright” Pearl broke her shortly lived vow of silence. “Garnet, truth or dare?”

“Dare” Garnet replied 

“darn it, why didn’t you say truth!?” Pearl whined

“Because I knew what you would ask, I don’t want to answer, and I knew you didn’t have anything prepared for dare” Garnet replied with an smug smile

“I uh” Pearl blushed nervously, as usual Garnet was right, but not for long “of course I have a dare”

“then what is it?” Garnet replied still smirking

“Kiss amethyst” Pearl blurted out the first thing that came to mind

Amethyst flushed dark purple, Garnet seemed surprised but quickly recovered. “ok” she replied bluntly before turning the small purple gem around and kissing her on the lips. 

The small gem flushed dark purple, eyes wide in surprise. She hadn’t expected Garnet to actually do it.

Garnet pulled away and returned Amethyst to her spot in her lap. Amethyst remained dark purple she doubted she would be her normal shade anytime soon.

Pearl sat there shocked, she hadn’t expected the fusion to actually do it either, it had been just been the first thing that popped into her head.

“My turn” Garnet said after a moment of silence “Holly truth or dare”

Holly was conflicted for a moment, truth seemed easier, but Garnet had been asking her about her superiors lately, she had no desire to talk about that, dare it was then. 

“Dare” she replied nervously, she still had no idea what the fusion might have in store for her

“I dare you…” Garnet trailed off in thought, maybe she was just doing it for dramatic effect, maybe she was actually thinking, Holly would never know. 

Garnet looked around the room, she knew several dares she could give Holly, with most of them ending badly, she didn’t want to do that. She looked around the room for something that she could dare her to do without it ending so horribly. She noticed Sharky sitting off to the side, away from the group, she looked sad. 

Taking a page from Pearl, Garnet knew what she wanted to do.

“I dare you to kiss Sharky”

Holly blushed dark purple, Sharky looked over, their eyes met, making them both turn a very dark shade of purple. Holly stood, making her way over to Sharky nervously, she had secretly been wanting to kiss Sharky, especially with her newfound confidence from kissing Jay and Chip, Sharky however, she had still been a confidence boost away from kissing the intimidating gem. 

She did something unexpected, she sat right in Sharky’s lap, startling the large gem for a moment, before lips connected. Holly and Sharky could hear cheers, but neither pulled away, attention captured by the kiss, Sharky leaned in, deepening the kiss. 

The kiss soon turned into a small make out session, with the only complaint being from Pearl about Steven in the room. 

They swore they heard explosions, soft lips met warm, rough ones. They felt lighter then usual, like they were floating amongst the stars together, just the two of them.

They eventually pulled away, both gems faces were dark purple in color. They stared into each others’ eyes for a moment, periwinkle meeting light pink eyes.

“Holly its your turn” Garnet pressed gently, she had a big smile on her face, of course she would, she was literally made of love, how could she not try to foster lover between others.

“Right sorry” Holly blushed

They soon returned to the game, laughing and joking around, it had been a fun night, and she had sat in Sharky’s lap for every second of it.


	14. What Do You Know?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/askthefamethyst if you have any questions feel free to ask

Many sounds filled the air, laughing, clanging of metal, even excited chatter. Indeed, the barn was buzzing with excitement. Most of the quartzes were swimming around in the smaller then average lake, Holly sat on the edge of the small body of water, kicking her feet gently, loving the cold water against her skin. 

The beta quartzes lay on the ground, the bright sunlight warming their skin nicely, the sun reminded them of the hot climate of their kindergarden, their home, they didn’t even know if it still existed. 

Skinny lay on her stomach, chin resting lazily on her arms, eyes closed in content from the warm sunlight. Carnelian lay beside her, curled up like a baby kitten next to the thin gem. Nuzzled up to Skinny’s side, fluffy hair brushed to the side as the pair enjoyed the warmth. 

Stripes lay on her back a few feet away from the pair, arms spread out, eyes closed, hair fanned out behind her like a large, fluffy rug. Sia lay beside her, using her left arm as a pillow, cuddled as close to Stripes as possible. Bee used the other arm as a pillow, curled up to Stripes right side happily, the three buff gems relaxing in the sun. 

Lapis and Peridot were inside the barn with the original crystal gems, sitting on the couch watching something on the TV as the new air conditioner cooled off the building. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven sat in the corner closest to the machine, playing a game with cards. 

“Hey Garnet… Do you think-” 

“No Steven” Garnet cut him off, obviously knowing what he was going to say, “We have no way of curing corruption yet” She reasoned

“But maybe if we heal her she can help us heal the others” Steven replied optimistically

“Steven, you know I want her healed just as much as you do, but we can’t really do anything yet, she hates you!” Amethyst spoke up, putting her cards on the ground.

“Steven, she’s not worth helping, she tried to kill you several times” Lapis reasoned 

“But I didn’t give up on Peridot” Steven argued

“It was different with me, I couldn’t fight back, she’ll kill you!” Peridot argued back

“Not if I convince her not to” Steven replied happily, looking at the glass half full

“YOU CAN’T HELP HER STEVEN! JASPER ISNT SAVEABLE!” Peridot screamed

None of the quartzes outside heard the conversation, but they had heard Peridot’s last statement, all their eyes widened.

The betas stood quickly, they had heard the name clear as day, and they were not happy. They stormed into the barn, eyes like fire, Bee grabbed Peridot roughly and pinned her against the wall. 

“What did you just say?” she growled dangerously

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl stood quickly, ready to fight if it gets any more aggressive.

“W-What are you doing!? PUT ME DOWN CLOD!” Peridot screamed

“REPEAT WHAT YOU SAID!” Stripes screamed back, coming up right behind Bee

Peridot shook, she was scared, she had five quartzes glaring at her with enough anger to shatter her gem. She shouldn’t have mentioned Jasper by name, especially not so loud, with Jasper’s kindergarden sisters so close by. 

“I s-said she w-wasn’t s-saveable” The small, green gem stuttered out nervously, she didn’t want to get poofed by the large quartzes.

“Not that, repeat the name you said” Skinny growled getting really close to the shaking gem. 

“J-Jasper” Peridot stuttered out, she was terrified at this point.

“Buff….?” Carnelian had sadness lacing her question, they all lost the anger in their eyes, it being replaced with fear or sadness.

“What do you know?” Stripes asked, strength returning to her voice quickly.

“Bee, put her down” Garnet ordered sternly, the last thing she wanted was to see the small gem get poofed.

“No Garnet, we want answers” Bee snapped angrily, they weren’t giving up

“Please Garnet, if any of you know anything about Buff, please tell us” Carnelian pleaded with the tall fusion

“We have a right to know” Sia pleaded

“We’ll tell you everything you want to know, just put her down” Garnet replied calmly, she didn’t know what caused such a strong reaction from the betas at the mention of Jasper’s name, but she wanted to calm the situation quickly and peacefully.

Bee dropped the small green gem roughly, the quartzes were not messing around, it was obvious. Garnet gestured for them to sit down, they only wanted answers, but Garnet was the one WITH the answers, so they sat anyway. 

“Your nickname for her is ‘Buff’ correct?” Garnet asked calmly

“Yeah, her gem is her nose, we… lost her during the war, we never heard if she made it out alive or not…” Skinny replied sadly, all beta eyes trailed to the floor remembering all the nights of wondering if their beta sister had been shattered or not.

“She did” Garnet confirmed calmly

The betas lifted their heads, happiness filling their eyes, smiles blossoming across their faces as they looked at each other, the happiness was so obvious it almost made the original crystal gems blink in surprise. 

They quickly remembered that they didn’t know Jasper the way her kindergarden sisters did. Seeing the happiness of the quartzes upon hearing that Jasper was still alive, it was touching, to say the least. 

“We most likely have a different opinion of Jasper, we would love to hear your opinions or her” Garnet smiled, she wanted to understand their point of view of Jasper since her own wasn’t very good. 

“I guess I’ll go first” Carnelian smiled, her mood seemed to have improved because of Garnet’s suggestion

“She saved my life on the first day I emerged” Carnelian started as she remembered the day, clear as ever

_“Watch out!” she yelled to the larger Carnelian in warning. It came too late, the crystal gem cut the large red gem in half, forcing her to retreat into her gem. Carnelian watched in horror as the gem was shattered into shards, red dust scattering to the wind._

_The crystal gem glared down at the small red gem, it raised its weapon to attack the smaller gem next. A blur of orange and red barrelled into the crystal gem head first, poofing the offending gem quickly._

_The large gem stood, helmet gleaming dangerously atop her head. The nose placed gem on her face gleaming in the light of the dying sun. Bright orange eyes glaring down at the poofed crystal gem at her feet, dangerous fire flickering in the bright orange irises._

_The dangerous eyes turned to look at the smaller gem, the small gem looked up in stunned amazement. The large gem’s fiery eyes softened as she looked down at the little gem, she kneeled to look Carnelian in the eyes._

_“Are you ok?” The large gem asked, worry clear in her voice like a bell_

_Carnelian nodded, looking up at the intimidating gem as the battle raged around them. “T-Thank you” she stuttered out, still shaken by what had happened._

_“You’re not hurt, are you? Your gem isn’t damaged?” the muscular quartz asked, worry lacing her voice, concern filling her fiery eyes as she looked the small red gem over._

_“N-No I’m ok” Carnelian responded, the large gem relaxed, her face changing from worry to sadness._

_“I’m sorry I didn’t get over here sooner…” She apologized, frowning softly as sadness filled her eyes, replacing the worry._

_“How cute” A voice sounded from behind the large gem. The muscular quartz turned around quickly, pushing Carnelian into the hole behind her. She glared at the crystal gem before her, dangerous fire filling her eyes once more as she stared down the enemy before her._

_The crystal gem ran at her, the blade of her sword gleaming in the light. Posed to strike the nose gem, the brawny gem ducked, dodging the sword just in time, staying in front of the hole the small red gem was hiding in._

_Weapons clashed, clangs filled the air, she would dodge the attacks, landing a few hits, none powerful enough to poof. The crystal gem landed a powerful hit, her large protector almost doubled over from the hit, quickly dodging the knee that was coming at her face, panting softly in effort, trying not to retreat into her gem._

_“I don’t have to shatter you, join us, you can be useful to the crystal gems, you’ll only suffer under Homeworld” The obsidian gem said, trying to reason with the powerful quartz._

_“We’ll never join you!” the strong gem growled, glaring daggers at the black gem._

_“Don’t say I didn’t offer a way out” The gem angled its sword again, jet black eyes gleaming in the dying light. “First, I’ll shatter you, then the little one is next, just like the last four Carnelians who refused to join us”_

_The orange and red gem glared, orange eyes narrowed in anger, the crystal scum had shattered her kindergarden sisters, threatened what could be the last Carnelian out of Beta, she would NOT let that slide!_

_She charged, dodging the sword as she_ _barreled helmet first into the gut of the crystal gem. The sword falling from its grasp onto the ground, sunlight gleaming off the edge. The buff gem rammed the traitorous gem into the far wall, poofing it instantly._

_The black gemstone fell to the ground with a soft thud, dying sunlight gleaming off the edge of the black surface. The large gem picked it up, glaring at the gem with rage filled eyes. “I won’t let you live to shatter anymore of us” She said to the gem before shattering it with her bare hand, turning the gemstone to dust in her fist, letting the dust fall out of her hand, the breeze scattering the dust until there was nothing left. “Seventy-eight”_

_Carnelian watched from the exit hole she was hiding it, the powerfully built quartz looked over at the gem that she had poofed before. She watched from the hole as the large gem picked up the poofed gem, crushing it in her hand without a second thought, purple dust scattering to the wind. “Seventy-nine”_

_Carnelian suddenly felt a shadow over her, she tensed, turning around only to see a muscular, green and black gem standing over her, weapon drawn, anger raging across her face._

_A sword came flying over Carnelian’s head right into the chest of the gem standing over her, it was the sword of the black gem that the large quartz had shattered earlier. The gem froze, bright green eyes wide from the blow._

_The orange and red gem walked up behind Carnelian, eyes like fire in the last dying rays of sunlight. “Don’t you dare touch her” the quartz growled before the crystal gem poofed, the burly quartz picked up the gem, along with the black bladed sword of the fallen crystal gem she had shattered earlier, shattering the green gem with the sword of her fallen comrade. “Eighty”_

_They could hear the shouts for the crystal gems to retreat, the large gem sat with Carnelian, pulling the small gem to her chest with strong, muscular arms wrapping around the small gem, hugging the small gem tightly to her chest as they watched the sun finally set over the desert of their kindergarden, the countless shards of betas and crystal gems littering the ground as the moon rose, replacing the sun in the sky._

Eyes widened, the original crystal gems looked at each other in shock, trying to imagine Jasper fighting tooth and nail to protect someone just as small and ‘defective’ as Amethyst was. 

“She would always compliment my fighting, even if she could do ten times better without even trying” Skinny added with a nostalgic smile _._

_“Not bad Skinny”_

_Skinny looked up at the muscular gem standing above her, a strong hand reaching out to help her up. She took the offer, putting her small hand in the open palm of the brawny hand._

_Jasper smiled as she helped Skinny up off the ground. Skinny brushed the dirt and sand off of her uniform, panting softly from the effort the sparing match they had just finished._

_“You almost had me there” Jasper complimented with a wide smile, eyes twinkling with pride of her thin kindergarden sister._

_“Oh please, you could probably hit harder on accident then I could ever do on purpose” Skinny rolled her bright orange eyes, looking up at her well-built sister._

_“Come on Skinny, you’re really good, don’t doubt that” Jasper replied, ruffling her thin sisters short, fluffy hair._

_“Don’t mess with my hair!” Skinny exclaimed as she swatted Jasper’s hands away._

_Jasper laughed, booming laughter filled the canyon, bringing smiles to everyone’s faces, bright smiles and different laughs joined in. The twenty remaining quartzes laughed, enjoying one of the rare moments of happiness._

“She always encouraged me to stay optimistic, even when I was on the brink of shattering myself to get out of the war…” Sia admitted sadly, Bee and Stripes hugged her comfortingly, soft smiles reassuring the sad gem.

_“What are you doing up here?”_

_Sia turned around quickly, the sharp rock falling from her grasp and down into the canyon. Jasper stood there, hair slightly dirtied from the last battle, clothes ripped in several places, even a bit of dirt on her skin._

_“Nothing” She replied as she looked down into the canyon, down at the rock she had just dropped._

_“Didn’t look like nothing to me” Jasper replied as she sat down beside her sad beta sister._

_“Guess your eyes got hurt in the fight then…” Sia replied weakly, she didn’t have any excuses to give Jasper, she had hoped to slip away unnoticed, let her shards fall onto the rock of the canyon walls, the dust of her gem dissipating in the air._

_“Sia what are you really doing up here?” Jasper asked, though Sia was sure she already knew the answer._

_“Trying to get out of here…” She replied as she looked out over the desert, it always looked the best during sunrise in her opinion, though Jasper would argue it was most beautiful at sunset._

_“We’ll get out of here someday, for now we just need to hold down the fort” Jasper replied_

_“What’s the point Jasper? We sit here all day, hoping the crystal gems won’t come back, when they do, we fight, we die, we shatter them, more of us die! Carnelian is the only one left! She only survived the first day because you were protecting her! We all saw the red shards on the ground…. Carnelian was the only one to survive the first day…” Sia trailed off, their numbers were dwindling fast, it was getting harder to keep hoping for change._

_“Sia… I know this is hard, I know finding Swift’s shards wasn’t easy… But would she really want you to do this? Shatter your self when we’ve all worked so hard to protect each other?” Jasper asked, there was only a handful of them left, but they had to hold on._

_“No, she wouldn’t…” Sia sighed, looking up at the powerful quartz beside her._

_Jasper wrapped a muscular arm around Sia’s shoulder, pulling her close in a one-armed hug. Sia didn’t pull away from the embrace, it was comforting, in a time when nothing else was._

_There were only a handful of them left, just eight Jaspers, and the last Carnelian._

Sia turned, burying her face in Bee’s chest, as her and Stripes rubbed Sia’s back comfortingly. 

“Wow, its hard to imagine Jasper as… sweet” Peridot said surprised, the original crystal gems nodded in agreement.

The betas looked confused, looking back and forth at each other, asking questions no one could hear. 

“What do you mean by that?” Bee asked, confusion apparent on all the betas faces. 

“Our experiences with Jasper, haven’t been the best” Pearl replied nervously, she had encountered the wrath of the quartzes enough for one week, she didn’t want to bring it on again, even if she was just stating a fact. 

“What did you do to piss her off?” Skinny asked, amusement as well as confusion showing in her eyes. 

“I’ll go first then” Peridot replied from where she sat in Lapis lap

“We have all day” Stripes replied as the betas moved closer to each other for comfort. 

“Jasper was a high-ranking gem in Yellow Diamond’s court, she was assigned to escort me on a mission here to Earth, with Lapis as our informant.” Peridot started “We got to Earth without any problems, we found these clods” Peridot continued as she jabbed a thumb in the direction of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven. “Garnet beat Jasper in a fight, the others crashed the ship while I escaped in an escape pod” she finished 

“Jasper was mad that Garnet beat her, because she’s a fusion” Lapis started

“Well she did always hate fusion” Bee stated

“None of us liked fusion Bee, most of us were wiped out by fusions” Skinny replied

The crystal gems frowned, Garnet especially, it was hard to hear that they didn’t like fusions too much, even if it was for an obviously good reason. 

“Jasper and I ended up fusing, to save Steven I dragged our fusion to the bottom of the ocean” Lapis confessed

“She hates fusing, she would never do that!” Skinny exclaimed, the betas were getting mad now, eyes narrowed, anger burning in their eyes

“She was desperate” Garnet replied calmly

“Liars!” Sia snapped angrily

“We wouldn’t lie to you” Garnet tried to sooth their fury

“Oh really, then tell us this, where is Jasper now, if she’s here?” Stripes demanded pointing at Lapis in accusation.

The crystal gems tensed, Stripes had a point, even after Jasper had been mentioned, they hadn’t even considered telling them about the now corrupted Jasper, who’s gem sat trapped in a bubble in the temple. 

“She started gathering corrupted gems, she had grown obsessed with fusion, she fused with a corrupted gem and ended up getting corrupted herself” Steven explained sadly

“You’re lying” Sia glared, orange eyes filled with anger

“He’s not lying, her gem is bubbled with the other corrupted gems in the temple” Garnet replied calmly

“Liars!” Skinny exclaimed, fist clenched by her side-

“Please calm down, we’re not lying to you, we’re being honest” Pearl replied

“YOU’RE ALL LIARS!” Carnelian screamed (bonus points whoever knows where that line comes from) 

“We’re not lying, Steven go get her gem” Garnet replied calmly, she knew bringing the bubble was risky, there was a chance the betas would want to release their sister, but there was no other way to convince them of their truthful story.

Steven left, the chime of the warp pad signalling his exit. The gems remained in place, betas glaring in anger, others watching, hoping the betas wouldn’t get so angry as to attack them before Steven returned. 

It was a tense and awkward silence, none of them wanted to let it drag on. The chime of the warp pad signaled Steven’s return, he came into the barn, a shiny purple tinted bubble in his hands, the gem inside, unmistakably Jasper’s.

The betas gasped, the proof of the story was right before their eyes, they rushed towards Steven. They could hear weapons being summoned behind them, as if they were attacking Steven.

They took the bubble, crowding around it sadly, touching the bubble gently, as if they could possibly hurt Jasper’s gem by mishandling the bubble. Mixtures of emotions across their faces. Sadness, fear, and confusion shown clearly across their faces, looking at the gem inside the bubble.

None of them dared walk closer to the group, they didn’t want to risk angering the quartzes again.

“Can we see her?”


	15. Bitter Memories

**“Don’t worry Kitty, I’ve got your back”**

**“I know you do, and don’t call me that, we’re in the middle of a fight”**

**“Is it just me? Or are they getting faster and faster every time they raid us?”**

**“You’re faster”**

**“Aw thanks beautiful”**

**“Keep focused ya doof!”**

**“Of cour-”**

**“SWIFT!”**

Sia sat upright with a scream, soft, creamy hair falling in front of her face, tears steaming down her cheeks from glowing orange eyes. Shaky breaths came quickly, even though not required.

Face quickly buried in shaking hands, tears falling into the open palms, running down her wrists and down her arms. The sound of a gem being shattered rang in her ears, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

“Sia?”

Sia turned around quickly, hands flying away from her face, tears still running down her cheeks. Shock filling her features from the sudden voice, she hadn’t expected anyone to be on top of the barn with her.

Bee stood behind her, amber eyes filled with concern for the frazzled gem, she walked closer, sitting right beside her quietly with grace few quartzes had. They remained silence for a bit, relaxing in the comforting silence of each others presence as they watched the sun slowly start to rise over the horizon, casting a warm glow onto their skin.

“You were dreaming about Swift again, weren’t you?” Bee asked hesitantly, Swift had always been a sore subject for Sia, they had been lovers, as well as friends.

Sia was silent for a moment, she debated shapeshifting and leaving, Bee knew she didn’t like to talk about Swift since she had been… No, she couldn’t even think the word…

“Yes” She replied simply, almost choking on the word, it hurt to talk about it, to even think about it, the bad dreams were already bad enough. Bee hugged her gently, rubbing her arm, trying to comfort the saddened gem beside her.

“It’s ok to think about her Sia, you know she wouldn’t want you to be sad” She whispered, Sia needed to hear it, and she was going to tell her.

“I know…” Sia trailed off as she looked down, her bare feet tapping quietly against the newly repaired roof of the barn, quiet tapping echoing in their ears from the familiar silence that surrounded them once more.

“She never liked it when any of us were sad…” Sia smiled, tears brimming her eyes as she thought of her lost lover.

“Remember after the very first fight? There were shards everywhere, Carnelian was crying over all the other Carnelians?” Bee offered kindly, hoping that she might cheer up her crus- friend!

“Yeah, Swift went right over and started bawling with her” Sia smiled as some stray tears slipped down her cheeks

“Carnelian stopped crying, asking Swift why she was crying too” Bee continued as she trailed her fingers along Sia’s jaw, turning her head so they were staring into each other’s identical amber eyes.

“She told Carnelian that it made her cry to see her cry” Sia replied as more tears slipped down her red striped cheeks

“Carnelian asked her why, they didn’t even know each other” Bee continued as she gently wiped the tears away with her thumb, smiling softly at the crying gem.

“Swift said that she didn’t want anyone to cry, and that Carnelian was so adorable and new to the world that she should be excited, not crying” Sia finished the story with a sad smile, more tears slipping down her cheeks

“What’s going on up here?” The two gems turned their attention to the edge of the barn, where Stripes was peeking over the edge at them, curious amber eyes looked at them, glowing from the rising sun.

“Just remembering” Bee responded

“Looks like you’re about to smooch” Stripes replied as she climbed up onto the roof quietly, the two gems blushing at her comment as she sat quietly on the other side of Sia.

“So, what’s going on?”

“We were just remembering” Bee replied, she didn’t know if Sia wanted to tell Stripes what exactly they were remembering, she just hoped Stripes hadn’t overheard.

“Swift?”

“How did yo-”

“Don’t make me laugh, I can read you two like a book, you can’t hide things from me” Stripes cut Bee off quickly as she draped an arm around Sia’s shoulders gently, half fearing her sad crush would break under any extra weight.

“We were talking about the first day, when Swift started crying with Carnelian” Bee explained, scooting a bit closer to Sia.

“I remember that day, there were lots of gem shards on the ground” Stripes replied, sadness and anger lacing her voice as she recalled the horrific aftermath of the day they emerged.

Silence covered the area once more, fluffy quartz hair blowing in the morning breeze as they sat with each other as they watched the sun rise into the sky, turning the sky from gold to blue.

“We know you miss her Sia, but do you really believe she would want you to be sad?” Stripes asked eventually breaking the fragile silence with her femininely deep voice.

“You and Bee sound so much alike” Sia replied softly, voice flat with sadness, defeat evident in her honey sweet voice. Tears once again brimming her shining amber eyes, threatening to fall down her pale orange cheeks once more.

“Because we’re right” Bee replied quietly, she didn’t want to sound cocky, she wanted to make a point, and she was determined to cheer Sia up, they hated seeing the normally sweet gem so sad.

“I know… but I miss her…” Sia replied quietly as a few small tears slipped down her cheeks

“We know love” Stripes said as she wiped Sia’s tears gently with her striped hand, keeping her other arm around Sia’s shoulders, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly Bee remained silent, she didn’t know what she could possibly say, she just silently took Sia’s hand in hers, rubbing her thumb over the soft red skin.

“It’s ok to miss her Sia, we’re never going to tell you to forget about her, but you need to move on, she wouldn’t want you to be sad, she would want you to live your life”Stripes continued, scooting closer to sit right up against Sia, as close as possible without physically sitting on her.

“We know its hard, we know you two were more then friends” Bee joined in, also scooting closer to Sia, wrapping an arm around her waist gently.

“You should have one last cry, we both know you want to, then we can focus on making you happy, Swift wouldn’t want you sad, but we doubt she would refuse to let you cry over her, you two were lovers as well as friends” Stripes offered kindly

As if magic words had been said, the flood gates opened. Sia started crying, silent sobs wracking her body as glittering tears slipping down her cheeks and dripping from her chin one by one and onto her hands.

Shoulders shaking as tears slipped down soft skin, silent sobs trapped in her throat begging to be released into the open air. Tears sticking to thick black eyelashes, her bottom lip quivering from unreleased cries.

Desperate hands swiping at her eyes, trying to clear the wet tears from her cheeks, but more just fell, like an endless waterfall of sadness down her cheeks, no longer restrained by her mask of happiness that she usually wore.

Silent, confined cries morphed into quiet sobs, small cries escaping from slightly parted lips. Tears falling faster down her face as cries and sobs started to escape her throat, shoulders shaking with each quiet sob, tears falling like raindrops from her eyes.

Small cries slowly changed into loud sobs, screaming cries of emotional pain, heartbreak ringing through the air like a bell, cutting through the once silent air like a sharpened battle-axe, echoing across the area.

Shoulders shaking violently, loud sobs echoing through the quiet morning air. Tears spilling down her cheeks and dripping down her arms and onto her legs, cries spilling from her mouth with no sign of stopping, wails of grief leaving her lips.

Bee and Stripes couldn’t do anything but let her cry out her feelings, rubbing soothing circles onto Sia’s arms and back, trying to comfort her as she cried, all those feelings she had built up over thousands of years, spilling out in heart-wrenching sobs.

Loud sobs of grief spilled forth from Sia, wails of sorrow for her long-lost friend and lover, sobs of agony over the horrible way Swift had been ripped from her life so suddenly, shards scattering to the wind, haunting her dreams, taunting her with the death of her beloved.

Wordless screams spilled from her parted lips, wails of agony escaping from her throat, as if begging for her beloved to come back, to take away the pain.

But nobody came

Swift, never came 

Sia cried for hours, countless tears falling from her eyes, sorrowful wails left her mouth, crying for hours in the embrace of Bee and Stripes, letting them take care of her with comforting hugs and soothing words.

Sorrowful cries turned into sad sniffled over time, quiet sniffles muffled by muscular hands, the last tears slipping down her face as Bee and Stripes held her close, whispering soothing words to her. She had cried herself out, exhausted from the piercing wails that had left her lips for what had been the entire day, the sun now setting behind them, casting a golden glow onto their backs and fluffy hair.

Small sniffles were the only sound leaving the sad gem anymore, the shaking of her shoulders had subsided into small quivers as she sat there.

Bee and Stripes rubbed her back soothingly, trying to comfort her, they had known Sia was sad over Swift’s death, but hearing the sobs and wails of their grief-stricken friend made them understand so much more, the pain she was going through.

Sia sat in-between them, her quiet sniffles had stopped, returning the area to the silence it hadn’t seen since that morning. Bee and Stripes looked at each other over the head of their shorter friend, wondering what they could possibly do to cheer her up.

Sia stared out at the rising moon as it peeked over the horizon, she felt better after crying, but she still missed Swift, it was like a hole in her being, that couldn’t be filled.

Stripes and Bee suddenly leaned in, placing their lips against Sia’s tear streaked cheeks in sweet kisses, Sia blushed, red striped cheeks growing even darker red as amber eyes widened in surprise.

They hugged her, leaving kisses on her cheeks and jawline, causing the shy gem to blush considerably as they pampered her with kisses, she closed her eyes, letting last tears slip down her cheeks, Swift would want her to move on. 

Sia gave in, relaxing into the loving embraces of her crushes as they trailed kisses down her face and neck, down to the collar of her shirt, amber eyes closed as she let the amazing feeling of the kisses wash away the sadness, leaving her peaceful and happy for the first time since Swift had been shattered.

Stripes suddenly kissed Sia on the lips, the passionate kiss earning a gasp from the shy gem. Sia blushed even more so then before, but she didn’t fight it, she quickly relaxed into the kiss, letting Stripes kiss her as Bee continued the trail of kisses down her neck. Sia felt guilty, she felt like she was betraying Swift, but Bee and Stripes were right, she had to move on, even if it was hard to forget Swift.

“No hogging” Bee’s voice suddenly cut though her thoughts like a sharp sword She felt herself being spun around, breaking the kiss with Stripes, before Bee’s lips were against hers in another kiss.

Stripes hands settled on her hips as she started kissing her neck again, leaving Bee to kiss her lips just as passionately as Stripes had been before. Sia felt like she was floating, she hadn’t felt that way since Swift, it was a good feeling, she liked the feeling. Just their presence alone was a comfort, but their actions at the moment were more comforting then anything she could possibly think of, and she loved the attention.

They soon pulled away, leaving Sia wishing they hadn’t, the pampering attention had been very nice.

She looked at them with confused amber eyes, their beaming smiles were contagious as she too found herself smiling. She wasn’t alone anymore She could love again Bee and Stripes smiled at her, joy filling their eyes from the smile that spread across Sia’s face, so beautiful and contagious.

“We love you Sia”

Sia’s eyes widened, amber eyes wide in surprise, lips parted slightly in shock, tears threatening to fall once more.

_“I’ll always love you Sia”_


	16. Hallowen Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some Halloween shenanigans and Jasper memories  
> bring tissues just in case, this chapter is emotional whiplash

(For the record all the Famethyst and betas have nicknames, the only ones who actually go by their gem name is amethyst and jasper, jasper has the nickname of buff from her beta sisters but other then that those two don’t have nicknames, just wanted to clear up that confusion now. That and in memories where Steven is present I will be calling him rose because they’re jaspers memories)

* * *

 

Festive music poured out of the barn, the smell of pumpkin candles filling the air as the full moon hung in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the landscape. 

Holly dancing shyly with Chip, the two timid gems waltzing happily in the corner, spinning happily in their pretty dresses. Light blue skin had been painted white, a pale grey dress replacing her normal uniform, draping down delicately past her hips and down past her knees. Pale blue, white-striped hair falling down in soft ringlets. She had been convinced to ‘dress up’ as what Steven called a ‘ghost’ and Amethyst had been making jokes with her name all night, something about the word ‘boo’ being interchangeable with blue.

Chip danced with her happily, shapeshifted, strawberry colored cat ears sat atop her head with small brown spots, resembling chocolate chips, with a cute matching tail falling out of her own pale pink dress and swishing happily behind her. Her cute fang showing happily as she smiled widely, her other fang missing with the absence of her tooth, no one seemed to mind though, in fact they all agreed it just made her cuter.

They danced happily, swaying to the beat of the exciting music as they danced around each other happily. Holly spun around happily, a smile on her face as she danced with the timid quartz. They gazed into each other’s eyes whenever they could, their lips almost touching at times, but neither of them were confident enough to kiss the other.

Holly and Chip had slowed their dancing, gazing dreamily into each other’s eyes, pale pink meeting soft periwinkle in a passionate gaze. Rain and Leah snuck up on them, their shapeshifted devil horns atop their heads, hidden amongst their fluffy hair, and tails flicking behind them mischievously as they walked, sneaking up on the adorable gems in almost silence, evil smirks stretched across their faces.

They moved suddenly, quickly giving each gem a shove to their backs, making Holly and Chip lock lips in a sweet kiss as their faces flushed with color. Rain and Leah cheered, having completed their goal, moving away from the two gems as they scanned the barn for more mischief they could make. Sadly, the Beta’s weren’t at the party, getting Bee, Sia and Stripes to kiss would have been the accomplishment of the night, but, they had to deal with what they had, and they were ready for some fun.

Sharky and Jay danced in the center of the room, right beside Lapis and Peridot who were dancing in the weirdest way possible. The two amethyst’s danced in a style Pearl had called “swing dancing”, which they understood, swinging each other around in the exciting dance style. Rain and Leah smirked, dancing their way through the crowd quietly, their tails swishing in amusement as they walked closer. Leah walked closer to them, holding the end of Rain’s tail tightly in her hand, but just tight enough that her mischievous twin wasn’t in pain. Rain walked a good two feet apart from her, holding Leah’s tail in her hand as they walked towards Jay, the graceful gem dancing happily with Sharky, unaware of the evil twins behind her.

They quickly sprinted forward, tripping Jay backwards with their tails as they ran past, snickering as they disappeared into the crowd, but turning back to watch the events unfold. Sharky turned quickly, catching Jay in her arms before the beautiful gem fell, a blush dusting their cheeks as they looked into each other’s eyes.

“Are you falling for me Jay?” Sharky smirked in amusement as she held the beautiful gem in her strong arms, the surprised gem below her blushing a darker shade of purple at the question before breaking out into her own smile, full lips tipping up as her smile lit up her face, leaving Sharky speechless.

“Always for you” Jay replied, making the darker skinned gem to blush herself before they both leaned in for a passionate kiss. Their lips locked quickly, they felt amazing, but they felt like something was missing, or rather someone. Holly and Chip weren’t with them, and they knew they weren’t truly complete without them.

The twins smirked, watching Lapis and Peridot kissing beside the two purple gems, they seemed to have set off a kissing frenzy, they didn’t mind, it was their goal all along. The two frowned, they felt… Lonely… They were right next to each other, but they felt so alone, they looked at each other with saddened eyes, violet bore into black as they looked at each other sadly. They felt, incomplete.

Pearl smiled from where she stood, watching the festivities, she had orchestrated the whole event, it was a nice distraction for the Amethysts, Holly, even Lapis and Peridot, taking all their minds off the Jasper issue was the least she could do.

She looked over at the closed barn doors, wondering how it was going on the other side. The whole idea of trying to heal Jasper was experimental at best. However, her job was to keep everyone in the barn and out of the way, just in case something bad happened.

Garnet stood outside the barn beside Amethyst and Steven, she was overseeing the whole thing, tense and ready to summon her gauntlets at a moments notice. She wasn’t against the idea of healing Jasper, but there was little she could do to help the process, she was only there for security purposes, this was quartz business, she wasn’t in any position to stand in the way.

Amethyst walked forward, through the containment field that Peridot had made, it was pretty impressive, even for the green technician, it was made to keep the warmth from the heat lamps contained while they did their experiment, to keep them toasty warm. Though it did give a slight buzz, almost like a hand buzzer, but it was uncomfortable to walk through. She looked back at the beta gems, all of them wore concerned expressions as they followed her into the heating unit with Steven, worry showing clearly in their eyes like a reflection in a clear pond.

She looked back at the purple bubble in her hands, the nicely cut gemstone inside tinted purple by her bubble, but still gleaming in the moonlight. Amethyst released the bubble, letting it float near the top of the containment field as they all settled on the blankets and pillows Garnet had set out of the experiment. All of them got comfortable on the makeshift bed, cuddling up with each other to keep warm during the cold October night. Even if the heating lamps were only nine feet above them.

“I’m really sorry if this doesn’t work…” Steven trailed off sadly, he hated the idea of letting everyone down, but his powers seldom worked anymore.

“It’s ok Steven, if it doesn’t work then we’ll just have to try again, we’ll find a different way” Stripes reassured the small boy, ruffling his dark brown hair gently as they all nodded their agreement.

Steven smiled, determination filling his body, determination to get his dream powers to work, determination to heal jasper. They all laid down, cuddling with each other as they started to yawn sleepily, and one by one, fell into peaceful slumber. Soft snores filling the air as they cuddled closer in their sleep.

Garnet smiled from her place leaning against the wall, a sudden cold breeze blow by her, actually making her shiver, she blamed her Ruby side, but decided to join the group inside the heated containment field. She sat down near Steven, running her fingers through his fluffy hair as he smiled in his sleep, she smiled happily as she yawned softly, the warmth was making her sleepy. ‘It couldn’t hurt to take a little nap’ She thought as she yawned again, the comforting warmth lulling her to sleep beside Steven, her shades fading out of existence as her head hit the blankets.

* * *

Garnet sat up and looked around in confusion, bright light filling her vision making her blink rapidly, where did her visor go? She could have sworn it was over her eyes just a moment ago. The light was blinding, her eyelids fluttering quickly as she tried to adjust to the bright light. The blinking slowed as her eyes adjusted to the light, the sight of red sandstone filled her vision making her look around in confusion.

Sunlight poured into the canyon like a waterfall, almost shining off the red sandstone walls, glinting dangerously off the many broken down gem injectors clinging desperately to the walls, where they had been halted in their jobs, frozen in time. The light poured into several exit holes that were otherwise shrouded in darkness. The Beta kindergarden.

How had she gotten there? She had just been outside the barn with Steven and the Beta’s, how did she get to the Beta Kindergarden? She looked around, confusion filling her heterochromatic eyes as she scanned the area for any hint as to what was going on. She suddenly heard voices, soft and in the distance, she turned her head in the direction of the voices to see Steven and the Betas in a group near one of the large sandstone walls. ‘Did I follow them in by accident?’ She got up, brushing some dust off her clothing before starting to walk over to them, their conversation grew louder, the words coming into focus when she got close enough to actually hear what they were saying as she walked closer.

“This one is my hole” Stripes said as she climbed up into one of the exit holes, about eleven feet off the ground, maybe twelve but hard to be sure.

Garnet looked around, the kindergarden filled her with a sense of dread that she couldn’t quite understand. She walked over to them and gently tapped Steven on the shoulder, successfully gaining the attention of the small boy.

“Garnet?” Steven asked in confusion, the attention of the Beta’s turned to look at the three-eyed fusion with confused stares. She gave a somewhat awkward smile, she hadn’t meant to follow them, but she had, she just hoped they wouldn’t be mad that she was encroaching on their quartz business.

“How are you here?” Skinny’s question wasn’t aggressive, it held a curious tone, laced with something resembling amusement that Garnet couldn’t quite place.

“I fell asleep beside Steven, guess I accidently followed you all in” Garnet shrugged as she looked down at the thin Jasper.

“I don’t mean to be the old Holly of the situation, but we should get back to the task at hand” Sia added They all looked at her, Sia was closest to Jasper out of all of them, it was only natural she wanted Jasper healed as fast as possible. They all wanted her healed, none of them liked the thought of Jasper being corrupted longer then she had to be, trapped in corruption, it saddened them greatly. However, it filled them with the determination to help her, to heal her.

They fell into an unsettling silence as they moved through the kindergarden, the broken-down gem injectors adding to the uneasy feeling in the air. The sun, unmoving in the sky, beating down on them but not rising the temperature of the creepy area.

“Hey Steven look, its my hole!” Carnelian squealed with excitement as she ran over to her hole and climbed into it “Look I came out sideways!”

Steven laughed as he walked over, talking to the excited red gem as she climbed back out of her hole, a smile beaming on her face, breaking the tension of the group and making them all smile at her happiness.

“Guys, its her hole…” Bee finally spoke, the sentence silencing all the smiles and happy giggles, the mood shifting back to the unsettling silence that hung over the group like a storm cloud even in the sunny area. They looked up at the hole, larger then any other hole in the whole kindergarden, glass lining the walls, the strong silhouette of the large gem clear as a bell. The darkness of the hole putting them all on edge, even more unsettling then the rest of the kindergarden.

“Should we go in?” Stripes asked, uneasiness lacing her tone heavily.

“She might be in there” Garnet spoke stoically, the unsettling feeling even got to her, but she didn’t show it.

It was like a foreboding aura that hovered over the whole kindergarden, leaving no crack untouched, but sourced from the large exit hole. The glass clinging to the walls and ceiling of the hole gleaming dangerously in the light. One by one they climbed into the dark hole, cautiously walking towards the back of the ominous space.

Skinny’s gem started glowing, lighting the way through the hole but not actually touching the back, they continued walking deeper and deeper but never finding the end of the hole.

“Does this just go on forever?” Carnelian asked confused, she had been in Jaspers hole before, but she didn’t remember it being so deep. A sudden light filled their vision, blinding them for a moment. It came into focus as a picture of some sort, it was the Beta’s, sitting at the top of the canyon overlooking the beta kindergarden, strange bottles in hand and laughing hysterically.

**“When do you think the next raid will be?”**

They were startled by Sia’s voice coming from the picture, memory? They could spot her sitting off to the side, one of the bottles in her hand, she looked happy, they could see another Jasper beside her, dark red stripes covering her arms and the bottom half of her face.

“Swift?” Sia’s eyes widened, she knew it was just a memory, but seeing her long-lost love sitting beside her in the memory was unexpected and foreign to her.

Bee and Stripes hugged Sia to them, comforting her in silence as they continued to watch the memory. Swift had one arm cast over Sia’s shoulders, nuzzling her neck with her nose, making the timid Jasper giggle.

**“Don’t know, don’t care! I just wanna drink!”**

**“Confiscating that bottle, now”**

**“JASPER! GIVE THAT BACK!!!”**

**“Nope, little red gems shouldn’t be allowed to drink”**

They watched in amusement as Jasper stole Carnelian’s bottle and drank it quickly, the other Jaspers howling with laughter around them as the small red gem pouted sadly.

The memory faded away, leaving them in darkness once more. They continued walking as a pathway illuminated before them, the dim orange glow lighting their way.

They walked until another memory appeared, illuminating the area as the scene came into focus.

**Jasper lay crouched behind a rock, eyes fixated on her target, shapeshifted fur ruffled by the rare wind that ran through the kindergarden. Feline eyes narrowed as she watched her target.**

**Skinny stood before her, unaware of her presence behind the rock, back turned to the shapeshifted quartz. Jasper’s striped tail swished with delight as she wiggled in anticipation, readying for her moment to pounce.**

**She sprung from her position, pouncing on the thin gem effectively tackling her to the ground with massive paws. Sharp teeth bared in a prideful grin on her feline face, her rounded ears flicking in amusement at the expression of the startled gem.**

**“Got you!” Jasper exclaimed happily, grinning down at the smaller gem with pride filled eyes, her striped tail swishing behind her.**

The memory faded from view, the annoyingly familiar darkness surrounding them, the path below them as the only light source. The darkness was cold and scary, they had no idea what secrets it held, or what memories it hid.

“She seemed so happy, what happened?” Steven asked confused

“And why the hell was she ok with Carnelian but not me? We’re literally the same!” Amethyst exclaimed, annoyance filling her voice as she remembered all the times Jasper called her wrong.

“Huh?” Carnelian looked at Amethyst, confusion overtaking her expression The sudden light of another memory interrupted the conversation, the memory coming into focus quickly as their attention was captured by the scene.

**The heat of battle surrounded Jasper from all sides, Crystal gems pouring into the canyon, the fight raging around her. A crystal gem Goldstone stood before her, orange skin with speckles of white all over her body, fluffy white hair swaying from her movements as she dodged Jasper’s attacks.**

**The gem suddenly poofed, causing Jasper much confusion until she noticed a smugly grinning Skinny, before the thin gem rushed off to find another opponent.**

**Jasper smiled, her thin sister was not to be taken lightly, unless you wanted to retreat to your gem of course. She took this moment to scan the area, looking for someone to help. Carnelian was holding her own quite nicely, using her speed and agility to dodge any attack thrown at her, effectively angering the attacking gem.**

**She spotted Swift and Sia fighting back go back, keeping the crystal gems at bay as they talked. She spotted a fusion coming their way, an Ametrine, stupid crystal traitors, fusion didn't make a fair fight.**

**She ran towards them, helmet ready to smash the fusion from behind by surprise.**

**The fusion rammed the Warhammer into Swift's gut, dissipating her form and shattering her gem in moments.**

**"SWIFT!" Sia cried out not feeling her lovers back against hers anymore, and the unmistakable sound of a gem shattering, one they were all too familiar with.**

**Jaspers eyes widened, anger and sadness swirling in her gem as she screamed in a grief filled battle cry, knocking into the fusion and punching it repeatedly.**

**Tears pouring from her eyes as she attacked the dazed fusion, poofing it easily and shattering the two gems without batting and eye, they had taken Swift, ripped Sia's love from her so brutally, taken her sister away...**

**The crystal gems called for retreat, the Beta gems huddling around the shards of their fallen sister, grieving cries echoed through the canyon**.

The gems watched with stunned horror, Sia sobbing into Bee's chest and Stripes rubbed her back soothingly.

"I'm so sorry Sia" Garnet couldn't find anything else to say, she almost felt ashamed to be a fusion after what she had witnessed. No wonder Jasper hated her so much, she was a fusion born out of love, which was ripped from Sia so cruelly by another fusion.

Sia looked at Garnet, saddened amber eyes looking up at the somber fusion. She had never blamed fusion for what happened, but it still hurt to see Swift get shattered so easily.

"Don't apologise Garnet, it wasn't you who did it" She replied quietly, her voice shaking as she remained in the arms of Bee and Stripes.

They started walking in silence, the smiles were gone from their faces, no longer smiling and happy like they had been earlier. No sounds could be heard, the silence surrounded them much like the darkness, no words passed between them as they all thought about what they had just seen.

**Another memory showed up later on, they found themselves dreading what might show up in the light filled image. Jasper stood on the battlefield watching the crystal gems retreat, a Amethyst she had been fighting beside grinned at her, the gem in her cheek glittering through the dirt that covered her body from a rough wrestle with a crystal gem earlier, of which she had been victorious.**

**The call of the Agates on the battlefield brought all the Homeworld gems towards a large ship that had landed, the Agates rushing them inside quickly before the ship took off.** **Jasper noticed some Homeworld gems had been left on the ground, her eyes widened as she went over to one of the Agates.**

**"Wait, stop we left some behind" she told them quickly, the ground getting further away**

**"We can't go back for them, they should have come when we called" Jasper was startled by the uncaring tone of the gem, she had never heard of Homeworld leaving gems behind like that.** **She soon realized why.**

**Music could be heard, a bright flash of light heading towards Earth, most likely killing off all gems left on the ground, including the Homeworld gems that had been waving for the ship to come back for them. J**

**asper felt sick, if they had waited a few moments they could have been saved, they were quartzes just like her, but the Agates didn't care that they had been left behind.**

**"Yo 4XJ are you ok? You're crying" Jasper looked over at the sharp-toothed Amethyst, she looked concerned for her. Jasper wiped a hand under her eyes and sure enough she was crying, crying for the gems that had been left behind, wondering if her sisters made it out.**

**"Hey it's ok, look on the bright side, the war is over, we can finally go to Homeworld" she smiled at Jasper, trying to cheer up the muscular quartz Jasper looked out the window of the ship, looking at the ball of blue and green as they neared the moon base.**

**"I guess that’s good" Jasper couldn't help but feel sad, not even the news that the war she had been born into was finally over could cheer her up. She couldn't help but think of all her kindergarden sisters who had been shattered in crystal gem raids, had her surviving sisters been left behind as well? Waving for the ship to come back for them like the those gems had been?**

**The ship docked at the moonbase, the Agates ushering them out and into single file lines, perfect posture lest you wanted to get in trouble. She found herself next to 8XF again, the Amethyst grinned at her again, the now clean gem on her cheek glimmering in the light.**

**Jasper couldn’t muster a smile in return, all the gems from the war were in the moon base, but she couldn’t see her sisters anywhere. She felt like her gem had cracked in half, she raised a hand, running strong fingers over her smooth gemstone. Not a single crack, she let more tears slip silently down her face as two of the surviving Diamonds walked into the room, Blue and Yellow Diamond.**

They watched in stunned silence as the memory begun to fade away, not only had Sharky been _with_ Jasper on the last day of the war, but she had cried for gems who had been left behind to die.

"GUYS! JASPER DOESNT KNOW YOURE ALIVE!" Steven exclaimed suddenly, panic lacing his voice as the memory completely faded from view. All their eyes widened, they hadn’t been to the moonbase, they had been put straight into Blue Diamonds ship because Yellow Diamond didn’t want them, Jasper had never seen them after the last battle.

"Oh my stars she thinks were dead!" Bee gasped

"That’s why she hates me! I’m small like Carnelian and she thinks Carnelian is dead" Amethyst had wondered why Jasper had been so nice to Carnelian but always called her defective, now she understood, and a part of her wished she didn’t, it made it all the more sad to her.

They started walking again, the illuminated orange path loosing color slowly, fading from a pretty orange into a pale, greyish shade.

Another memory appeared before them, the scene coming into focus slowly as they noticed the walls and floor were completely yellow, polished yellow stone making up the floor and the pillars surrounding Jasper in the memory.

**Jasper stood beside a Topaz fusion, they had both been called to the training hall for reasons unknown to them. She didn’t like fusion, but she felt calm beside the Topaz fusion, it was like a wave of calm radiating from the kind fusion.**

**Jasper stood at attention, perfect posture expected of her when in the palace. She found herself watching the fusion beside her, while she was still completely comfortable beside the yellow gem she found herself watching the fusion curiously, she found it easy to read the emotions of the taller gem.**

**She looked back ahead of herself, wondering why she was there at all, she hadn’t done anything wrong, thought maybe she had, she didn’t know Homeworld laws yet, maybe she had offended Yellow Diamond by accident. Jasper admired Yellow Diamond greatly, the powerful gem was a tactical genius. It was the whole reason the last battle of the war had been won at all, and Jasper wouldn’t forget that.**

**The large doors opened, a group of Agates walking into the room silently. Jasper easily recognized Blue Lace Agate and Honey Agate walking side by side, several other Agates, obviously new, following close behind. Jasper had never been near Agate’s outside of the war, the Beta’s never had an Agate to tell them what to do, 8XF had always told her that she should be thankful, she feared she was about to find out why.**

**Jasper glanced at the fusion beside her, her mood had dropped drastically, changing from calm to panicked in the blink of an eye, she found herself wanting to hug the nervous fusion, wondering what had made the gem so anxious suddenly. The Agates walked closer, Blue Lace Agate and Honey Agate leading silently, expressions like thunder as the new Agates followed behind them quietly.**

**There were four newer Agates in total. The two who followed behind Honey Agate were obviously Yellow Moss Agates, bright yellow skin with green markings, bright green eyes looking around curiously as they followed their superior.**

**Pale yellow hair with brighter yellow rings in their hair, both tied back in a singular bun on their heads, much like Honey Agate. The two who followed Blue Lace Agate were much more different, the first one was a Baby Lace Agate, her hair short, flowing down to her shoulders in different shades of blue, light blue skin standing out against colorless white eyes.**

**The other one also had light blue skin, but her hair was tied up in two buns on her head, almost like the ears of the big felines back on Earth. Innocent periwinkle eyes looked into her own fiery amber eyes curiously, as if they were trying to read each other.**

**“I’m sure you three know why you’re here” Honey Agate addressed her and the Topaz fusion, causing the Topaz to shiver in fear of the intimidating gem as Jasper’s attention was torn from the soft, periwinkle eyes of the one Agate that she couldn’t quite name.**

**“I d-didn’t want to u-unfuse” Topaz stuttered out nervously, Jasper looked at the fusion, anxiety radiating from the nervous fusion as she shook slightly from fear.**

**Jasper felt bad for her for reasons she didn’t understand, she had never even seen the fusion before today.**

**“I was told to come here” Jasper replied bluntly, she didn’t know why she was there, but she had been told to go there and she did as she was told.**

**“Correction, you are here to help us with a demonstration” Blue Lace Agate told them, a cold and uncaring tone in her voice as she and Honey Agate separated themselves from the newer Agates and walked towards the two gems silently. Their chest-placed gemstones glowing as they summoned their whips, matching electrified whips crackling as they walked closer. The only difference in the terrifying weapons was the dangerous shades of yellow and blue.**

**Jasper’s eyes widened, the fusion beside her gasping in horror as they both took a step back, they knew exactly what was coming. She could hear another gasp in the room, fear filled their forms as the two Agates smirked, pure evil filling their expressions.**

**Honey Agate lassoed her whip around the fusion’s feet, effectively forcing the gem onto her back as she walked closer, towering over the scared fusion as she placed a heeled book onto the chest of the terrified gem, the sharp heel digging into the gem’s chest as a sadistic smile stretched further across her face.**

**Jasper moved to help the kind fusion, when a light blue whip wrapped around her neck, shocking her as she was roughly pulled to the ground by her neck. Electricity coursing through her physical form, she screwed her eyes shut in pain, she could hear the pained cries of the Topaz, it made her feel so bad, but her own pain was almost enough to make her scream. She suddenly found herself face to face with Blue Lace Agate, her sadistic smirk right in Jasper’s face as she electrocuted the Beta quartz by her neck.**

**Jasper grit her teeth in pain, the sudden pain inflicted to her chest caused her to cry out in pain, the heeled boot of Blue Lace Agate had been kicked right into her chest, with enough force to shatter a gem if her gem hadn’t been on her nose. Blue Lace Agate scolded her for showing pain, kicking her repeatedly with sharp toed boots, pulling her whip tighter around Jasper’s neck.** **Jasper felt tears springing to her eyes, trying to hold back her cries of pain as the sadistic Agate continued to beat her mercilessly. Pain exploded through her body in ways she had never felt before, even during the war.**

**For a moment she wondered if Blue Lace Agate was trying to kill her, she could hear the pained cries of the Topaz, muffled by Honey’s whip around her neck most likely just as tightly as Blue Lace Agate’s whip was around her own neck. She could hear the fusion’s cries turn into screams of terror and pain, she could barely hear over the roaring electricity of the whip in her ears, the pain of her own hits, the pain of her newly formed wounds.**

**She could hear the poor fusion forcefully pulled apart into her to gem components, the two Topazes crying out in pain as they were continuously beaten. Jasper wasn’t faring much better, if she had been human she would have surely been killed already, if she as a lesser gem she would have been poofed from the pain, if not the hits.**

**Suddenly a new whip joined the fray, pale blue, crackling with electricity. Jasper closed terrified amber eyes, scared of what was going to happen next when she heard the shocked yelps of the two Agates, three other gasps heard from another section of the room.**

**Jasper’s head was spinning, pain clouding her vision as she managed to sit up. She saw the agate with the periwinkle eyes, standing in front of her and the Topazes protectively, her own electrified whip in her hand as she stood her ground.  Her gemstone shining on the back of her neck.**

**“Run” Jasper was confused, her thoughts only starting to clear as she looked up at the newer Agate**

**“W-What?”**

**“I SAID RUN!” She shouted as Honey Agate and Blue Lace Agate ran for them, the light blue gem wrapping her whip around them and pulling them to the ground.**

**Jasper looked over at the Topazes, they both looked close to poofing, she went over to them as fast as possible, her mind clearing as the adrenaline hit. She helped the scared gems to their feet, supporting them carefully as they moved quickly out of the room, as far away from the Agate’s as possible, hey could hear cries of pain behind them.**

**Jasper knew they were from the young trainee who had just helped them escape, but she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the blue gem. She could hear the two injured Topazes whimper at the sounds of her screams, they all felt bad for her suffering, because she had taken it instead of them.**

The memory faded from view, leaving stunned and horrified gems in its wake. Tears slipping down their faces freely as they stared at where the memory had been playing just moments before.

The Beta’s were sobbing loudly, having to watch their kindergarden sister be beaten mercilessly.

Amethyst and Garnet were stunned, none of them could deny that the helpful Agate had been Holly, the gem placement even matched.

Holly had helped them escape, only to get their beating for them. Steven was crying for a completely different reason, watching Jasper be beaten was horrible, knowing Holly had also been beaten was also horrible, but knowing that the Topazes, the same Topaz fusion that had been so nice, trying to help him and Lars escape, had also been beaten, it hurt him on a deeply personal level. They stood on the orange path for a while, crying, not wanting to continue after what they had seen, but they knew they had to.

If they ever wanted to heal Jasper then they had to press on, even if it might be painful, and they had no doubt it would be.

They started walking again, scared of what they would next. The glowing orange path stretched out in front of them, the light of another memory appearing ahead of them, just to the left of the path. They were dreading what they would see next, almost tempted to walk past the memory and continue on, but they knew that they couldn’t do that if they wanted the best chance of helping Jasper.

**Jasper stood with the two Topazes, dark bruises and healing wounds all over their bodies as they hid in the shadows of the palace, Jasper peeked out from behind the large pillar, watching for a certain gem to walk down the empty corridor.**

**Jasper looked at the two smaller gems, her eyes looking at their interlaced hands with a small smile, glad their beating hadn’t affected their love for each other, the last thing she wanted was another couple to lose their love to violence.** **She almost winced thinking of Swift, she should have gotten there faster, killed the crystal traitors before they got anywhere near Swift.** **She was saddened at the thought of her sisters, how they had been left behind on Earth, it made her want to cry.**

**The loud clacking of heels filled their ears, snapping Jasper out of her thoughts as she heard the two Topazes whimper in fear, she silently patted their shoulders, letting them know that it was ok as she peeked around the corner, it was just the gem they were waiting for.** **She motioned for the Topazes to follow her as the three of them walked out in front of the gem.**

**The blue gem jumped in surprise when the three gems suddenly stepped out of the shadows into her path, her bruised face showing in the light as they looked at her sadly, a royal blue scarf covering her neck, the electricity burn marks showing slightly from underneath the fabric, adding to their sadness for the young gem.**

**“Thank you, for helping us, you didn’t have to do that…” Jasper trailed off, she knew the young Agate could have just watched like the other three trainees and let them be beaten, but she hadn’t, and they were thankful for that.**

**“Yes, I did, it wasn’t right” The young Agate looked at them with periwinkle eyes, smiling at the three gems, though her bruised face caused her a significant amount of pain. Jasper hugged the smaller gem gently, trying not to mess with any of their wounds as the Topazes soon joined in, the three gems thanking the young Agate continuously.**

“Wow Holly looked really banged up” Amethyst winced, she felt bad for using her whip against Jasper, and guilt for wrapping Holly up in it at the zoo, after what they had just seen.

“No wonder she never really disciplined us, Jay and Sharky said that she wasn’t like the Agate they had during the war and now we I see why” Stripes winced, all the Betas had heard about the terrifying Shadow Agate, but they had never heard the extent of what had happened.

“It seems we need to have a little chat with Holly after we finish this” Garnet replied, Holly had been avoiding her questions for too long, and after seeing the last two memories she was more then determined to get some answers from the nervous gem. They all nodded in agreement as they started walking again, the path gaining a more greyish tone as they continued, they didn’t understand why but it wasn’t their top priority.

They stopped as the next memory appeared, it was a large jump from the last memory, they could see fire blazing around in the memory as it faded into focus, the lines becoming well defined as the blurry edges disappeared.

**Jasper burst free from the rubble, breathing heavily as she collapsed onto her hands and knees, glaring up at the crystal gems, who stood opposite to her on the sand, amber eyes glaring at them with hatred. Especially at the fusion, and that thing that Rose had turned herself into.**

**“Don’t think you’ve won. You only beat me, because you’re a fusion, if I had someone to fuse with I’d- huh?” Jasper looked over to her side, she heard a noise that had caught her attention. Lapis Lazuli emerged from under the rubble, making gasps of pain as she collapsed onto her hands in knees in a similar fashion to the large quartz before her water wings appeared and she tried to fly away, only for Jasper to grab her by the leg and drag her back, catching her wrist in her hand. “Come here brat! Aw don’t fly off so soon”**

**“Lapis!” Rose exclaimed as Amethyst and Pearl held him back from running to her**

**“Lapis listen, fuse with me” Jasper pleaded as the blue gem looked at her with confusion.**

**“W-What?” The confused gem asked, confusion clear on her features as she looked at the large quartz that held her.**

**“How long did they keep you trapped here on this miserable hunk of rock!?” Jasper almost screamed her question as she brought Lapis’ face closer to hers with her hand before dropping the smaller gem to the ground. “These gems, they’re traitors to their Homeworld. They kept you prisoner, they used you. This is your chance to take revenge!”**

**The blue gem stood silently, looking at the crystal gems as she thought of what Jasper was saying, contemplating what she should do.**

**“Come on. Just say yes” Jasper smirked**

**“Lapis don’t do it” Rose pleaded quietly, desperation lacing her voice as Amethyst held her back with her arms, glaring at Jasper with angered Indigo eyes.**

**Lapis narrowed her navy eyes, closing them for a moment as she made her decision. Opening them once more as she turned to face the large quartz, sticking out her hand for Jasper to take, accepting the offer. Jasper smirked as Lapis gave in, taking her hand roughly as Rose screamed “NOOOOOOOOOO!”**

**Jasper started to twirl Lapis around, finding it quite difficult with their obvious size difference. She dipped the small gem, their gems glowing as she smirked at the crystal gems, before they fused together.**

**They were soon inside the head of their fusion, several shades of green swirled around them as their fusion took her form. Jasper smirked, taking control of the fusion, readying to attack the crystal gems when chains made out of water shot out of seemingly nowhere, latching onto Jasper’s wrists and ankles.**

**“Huh? What?” Jasper asked confused as she looked at the chains, looking up at the other gem who inhabited the fusion with her. Lapis started walking towards her, her own evil smirk on her face, piercing navy eyes bore into her own fiery amber.**

**“What are you doing?”**

**“I’m done being everyone’s prisoner, now you’re my prisoner! And I’m never letting you GO” She shouted at Jasper.  Jasper started struggling wildly, angered by Lapis’ betrayal when Lapis moved her hand to control the water, another chain wrapping itself around her neck.**

**Her eyes widened in horror as memories of Blue Lace Agate flashed through her mind, zapping her strength away as she tried to unfuse with Lapis, trying to escape the crippling fear overtaking her entire being.**

**“Let’s stay on this miserable planet TOGETHER!” She screamed at the quartz as she tightened the chains around the horrified quartz as she desperately tried to unfuse them.**

**Lapis held their fusion together stubbornly, glaring at the large quartz as she dragged their fusion to the bottom of the ocean, leaving Jasper regretting not letting the terrifying blue gem fly away**.

They watched in horror, the Beta’s finally realising just how desperate Jasper had been to beg Lapis to fuse with her, and just how deceiving Lapis had been in return.

Another memory appeared just after it, fading into focus, obviously still inside the fusion.

**Jasper glared down at the smaller gem, her foot pressing into the blue gem’s chest as she snarled at Lapis. “HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE WEAK AND SCARED LAPIS!?” she screamed at the blue gem, Lapis glaring up at her with angered navy eyes, they both wore dark bruises of abuse, they had been battling for months, seldom did Jasper escape the chains, but when she did Lapis was always on the receiving end of the abuse.**

**“I don’t know, maybe it feels like this!” Lapis wrapped water chains around Jasper’s neck, long ago had she figured out that was a weak point for the quartz, she used it often and the quartz would always freeze up for a good minute, giving her ample time to attack the muscular gem and restrain her once more.**

**Jasper froze, she knew that was what Lapis wanted, but she couldn’t help it. Lapis suddenly had chains wrapped around her entire body, restraining her, terrifying her.**

**She wanted to unfuse, but she was never able to, even when she was the one inflicting the abuse, the abuse that she always hoped would convince Lapis to let them unfuse, so she could swim away as far away from the terrifying gem as possible, into the murky blue ocean.**

**“Just let me go Lapis, I don’t want to do this anymore” She saw the look in the smaller blue gem, the power-hungry look she always had since they fused, the thin gem would never listen to her. She would never let Jasper go, no matter how much the quartz pleaded.**

**No matter how she cried, Lapis was blinded by her power, the power she held over the quartz in the fusion. Jasper knew Lapis wouldn’t be like that if she were in her fight mind, but then again… Lapis wasn’t the only one who’s mind was being affected by the toxic fusion they shared. It was a vicious cycle, Lapis would beat her, insult her, mock her. Then she would regain control and do the same thing to Lapis in hopes the blue gem would let her escape the fusion prison they had locked themselves in. She would abuse Lapis until the thin gem regained control, then the cycle started all over again.**

**The never ending, vicious cycle of violence, that Jasper wasn’t sure she would be able to break, so she started crying, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks as the new round of abuse began.**

The memory faded from view, leaving the gems once again stunned. They remained unmoving, staring into the dark space where the memory had just been, wide eyes unmoving as they tried to comprehend what they had just seen. “At least we are getting closer to present day” Garnet broke the silence, her voice shaking for reasons they all understood. They started walking again, hoping the memories would be over soon, they didn't want to see Jaspers pain more then they had to.

They walked along the path as is gradually drained of color, going from a bright orange to a creepy grey color. Walking in silence, only to stop, dread filling their beings when a new memory appeared before them.

**Jasper glared at the corrupted gem as it continued to bite the bars she had set in place to keep it there. "**

**Give it up, you can't escape" She told the beast as it snarled at her, trying to claw at her through the cage bars.**

**"You'll like it eventually, just like i do" she frowned as the drew a messy picture of lapis in the sand.**

**Jasper sighed, she missed Lapis, she missed the constant abuse back and forth between the two of them, she hated the pain, she hated Lapis. Then why did she wish to fuse with Lapis again so badly?**

**She grew angry, angry at Lapis, angry at fusion, angry at herself… She let out a scream, her loud voice escaping her throat and out into the silent night air, the cry of mixed emotions, anger, fear, sadness, guilt. Jasper felt tears rolling down her face, she needed to find lapis, she needed to be Malachite again.**

They watched sadly, watching Jasper cry and scream into the night as the memory faded away, leaving them in darkness once more. It didn’t take a genius to guess they were starting to loathe the darkness as much as the memories. They walked again, they could see a light ahead of them, for a moment they thought it was another memory, but it was different, it wasn’t a cold, foreboding light like the memories were, it was warm and comforting like the embrace of a loved one. They smiled, walking towards the light with a newfound speed to their pace.

Their smiles dropping from their faces as another memory appeared before them, the scene of the Beta kindergarden coming into focus.

**Jasper stood in front of the cage, talking to the corrupted gem within, amber eyes narrowed, aggression radiating off her as the corrupted gem snarled at her.**

**“I can’t believe I’ve resorted to recruiting you freaks. You’re almost as bad as that crystal runt” She told them caged gem**

**“Just look at you, this planet ruins everything” She continued as the beast started chewing on the bars with sharp fangs,** **“Well, except for me” She smirked, taking pride in the fact that she was the only correct quartz on the worthless planet.** **“I’ll never let this planet twist me like it as twisted you, your weakness embarrasses Homeworld. You suffer because its what you deserve” Jasper smirked at the beast, kneeling down and jabbing her finger into its head, pushing it back slightly. “We all get what we deserve”**

**“Right, Amethyst!?” Jasper smirked as she looked up at the small purple gem, startling the small quartz into falling off the ledge she had been trying to sneak across, making her fall to the ground behind the muscular gem. “What do you want runt? You here for a rematch?” Jasper smirked over her shoulder at the smaller gem, amber eyes boring into indigo as they stared each other down for a moment.**

**“I’M HERE TO WIN!” Amethyst yelled, glaring at the larger gem as she tightened her grip on her weapon, glaring daggers at Jasper.**

**“You were fated to lose, the moment you came out wrong!” Jasper exclaimed, jabbing a finger in the direction of the purple gem, pointing at her as her eyes narrowed.**

**“That’s not true!” Rose yelled, running up beside the small gem, glaring at Jasper as she glared back at the offending creature Rose had turned herself into.**

**“Rose, of course, your lackeys never stray far. Why would they? They have no place on this, or any world” she declared**

**“What do you mean?” Rose asked, seemingly confused, but Jasper didn’t believe that for a moment.**

**“Every gem is made for a purpose, to serve the order of the Diamonds. Those who cannot fit inside this order must be purged!” She recited, thousands of years of beatings and disciplinary punishments having drilled that fact into her over and over until it stuck. “To come out misshaped, to reshape yourself outside your purpose, and to defend this ruined, worthless planet, is a DISGRACE!” She shouted at them, glaring at them with pure hatred.**

**“This planet isn’t all bad” Peridot piped up quietly from her hiding place behind part of the red sandstone wall of the canyon. Jasper glared at the small green gem, her gaze turning from hatred to suspicion as she looked at her old ally.**

**“What are you doing here?” She questioned the green gem curiously, suspicion lacing her voice heavily.**

**“I… I’M A CRYSTAL GEM NOW!” The little gem screamed, her fear of the large quartz causing her voice to quiver as Jasper summoned her helmet, rage filling her features once more as she glared at Peridot, seeing Rose summon her shield as well made her anger grow. “I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU, I HAVE METAL POWERS! I’LL SHOW YOU!” Peridot yelled as she tried to manipulate one of the metal bars. Jasper soon grew impatient, watching the gem try and fail the move the metal bar “In a moment” the gem paused her efforts**

**“Anyone else got something to say?” Jasper asked in annoyance, irritation now mixed with the anger in her voice as she rolled her eyes and ended up looking towards the sky.**

**“No, its just us” Rose replied, glaring at her**

**“UGH, YOU GUYS! STAY, OUT OF THIS!” Amethyst shouted as she picked up Rose and tossed her out of the way, causing Jasper to gain a hint of amusement that Rose was letting her lackey literally throw her around.**

**“Its just you and me Jasper, ONE ON ONE!” The runt shouted at her as she readied her whip, sending it in Jaspers direction. Jasper’s eyes widened, flashbacks of all the times she had been punished by Agate’s flooding into her head, instinctively flinching away from the terrifying weapon to no avail. It hit her right in the face, an unexpected second blow sending her back into the wall of the canyon.**

**“Go Amethyst!” Rose cheered happily**

**“Who’s the runt now!?” Amethyst grinned as Jasper got out of the dent she made in the red sandstone wall “You ready for more?” She asked cockily as she whipped Jasper again. Jasper barely flinched that time, glaring at Amethyst as the little gem’s eyes widened in a mixture of shock and horror. “Uh, there’s more where that came from!” she shouted sending a few blows, one after the other, Jasper not really caring, even as the last one sent her back a few feet, making her feet drag in the sand.**

**She commanded the dirt off herself, her hair fluffing out with the intense burst of power. She could hear the gasps and wondered if they realised that they couldn’t possibly win against her. The runt glared, setting her weapons on fire as she rolled into her quartz dash, becoming a flaming ball of purple fury. She rushed straight towards Jasper at full speed, hitting her dead on and being thrown back into the sand out of her dash, the mixture of smoke and shock making the young gem cough slightly. “**

**Is it sinking in yet?” Jasper asked, glaring down at the gem as she brushed some dirt and dust off of the chest of her uniform.**

**“Are you, SERIOUS!?” Amethyst shrieked as Jasper kicked her away**

**“Amethyst!” Rose yelled, worry lacing her voice as Amethyst tumbled back several feet, Jasper walking closer**

**“You never had a chance” Jasper said coldly, still glaring at the little gem with hatred, hatred that Amethyst had come out like Carnelian. Rage that she had lived, while Carnelian had died.**

**“Heads up!” Rose called, both quartzes looking up and jumping back away from the gem injector, the large machine crashing to the ground in-between them. Jasper could hear them talking on the other side, she could hear Rose shouting but she couldn’t hear clearly.**

**She picked up the gem injector and tossed it behind her with ease, glaring at the two gems before her. She saw them talking, she ran toward them, prepared to fight more when a bright light exploded from the two hugging gems, blinding Jasper for several seconds. Jasper’s eyes widened as the new fusion stood up, flashbacks of Swift’s death running through her mind, they were almost in the exact spot where it happened.**

**“What a BEAUTIFUL DAY!” the fusion exclaimed happily**

**“Huh? Who are you supposed to be!?” Jasper yelled, blinking back tears as she glared at the fusion**

**“Oh yeah, who am I now? I feel like Amethyst knows this…” The brown fusion trailed off in thought**

**“FORGET YOUR NAME! YOU HAVE A FIGHT TO WIN” Peridot shrieked**

**“I think, a Rose Quartz and an Amethyst…” The fusion summoned Rose’s shield and Amethyst’s whip, jumping up as they combined the weapons into something new, a spinning thingy that Jasper couldn’t place, what type of weapon was that?**

**“Make a, Smokey Quartz” it smirked at her, angering the large quartz greatly, how dare they stand in the kindergarden where a fusion killed Sia’s love, Jasper’s sister, her friend!**

**“IS FUSION THE ONLY TRICK YOU CRYSTAL GEMS KNOW!?” she yelled, glaring at the fusion, her anger and sadness piloting her actions**

**“I’ve got plenty of tricks” The fusion smirked**

**“Ever see sink the dink?” it asked as it attacked her several times with the spinning weapon, knocking the proud quartz onto her stomach. She sat up slightly, reaching a hand up to check her gem as she heard Peridot laughing, the annoying sound was getting on her nerves.**

**She screamed in anger, running at the fusion as she changed into her quartz dash, spinning full speed at the fusion. The fusion dodged her somehow, she couldn’t see it in her ball-like form, but she smashed into the wall of the kindergarden, the force of the impact, combined with her spinning caused the wall to crack and crumble, releasing the corrupted gems trapped inside the cages.**

**“NO, MY ARMY!” Jasper yelled as the corrupted gems ran from her, blind sprinting out of the kindergarden, Peridot's annoying laughter becoming audible once more.**

**“Take that! Then take this!” Peridot exclaimed as she tried to use her so called metal powers on the bar again.**

**Jasper ran towards the corrupted gem she had been scolding, it still trying to chew through the bars and escape the cage. The fusion wrapped its weapon around a rock, hitting Jasper twice and knocking her out of her run, onto her hands and knees. She stood up quickly, the fusion landing in front of her and kicking her chin, adding to her anger as she ran past the annoying fusion.**

**“Aw leaving so soon?” The fusion asked, a smug tone in its voice as Jasper ran to the corrupted gem.**

**“I WILL NOT, BE BEATEN BY ANOTHER FUSION!” Jasper screamed, grabbing the corrupted gem and fusing with it, their bodies melting together as they fused. She smirked, laughing within the fusion as she took in her new body, oh how she had missed this, the power of fusion, even if her partner wasn’t as abusive as Lapis had been.** **She turned towards the fusion, ready to attack as the annoying thing pulled out her weapon.**

**“Hang on, I’ve got a move that will really blow you away” it said as it swung the weapon in circles, creating a gust of wind that made her own fusion slide back several feet before she dug her newfound claws into the sand, walking toward the brown fusion.**

**“It’s cool if you don’t like it, I’ve already got three huge fans!” Smokey Quartz added as she summoned two copies of her weapons creating a twister of sorts that picked up Jasper’s own fusion. The corrupted gem started to panic, trying to unfuse with Jasper while the large quartz entered her own stage of panic. Trying to keep her grip on the corrupted quartz.**

**“We can beat them! If we stay together!” she exclaimed to the beast as she tried to fuse again, before they fell apart, back down to the sand. The corrupted gem landed right onto of her, but quickly got up and ran away as Jasper watched after it sadly “No one I fuse with, ever wants to stay” Pain started to fill her being, a physical pain that took away from the emotional pain built up in her over her entire life. She started laughing, the pain spreading around her body, numbing the emotional pain.**

**She looked at Smokey Quartz, a weak glare in her eyes. Greenish blue patches started spreading across her skin, making her look at her arm silently. She glared at them as they unfused, they talked for a moment, but she couldn’t really hear them, they were speaking too softly or maybe they were too far away, she was in too much pain to think, and she liked it.**

**“Jasper, it’s ok, I’m here” Rose tried to comfort her as she walked close**

**“Rose” Jasper growled out, almost wincing from the pain**

**“I’m not Rose, I’m Steven, I just want to try and heal you” Jasper was confused, it had to be Rose, the shield, the gem, how could it possibly be someone else? NO! It had to be Rose! Rose licked her hand, moving it closer to Jasper’s arm. The angered quartz lashing out with sharp claws, catching the shirt of the small gem.**

**“STEVEN!” Amethyst shrieked, panic filling her voice as Rose fell back several feet, still landing on her feet, and looking at her clothing, only a rip. Amethyst tried to charge the muscular gem, Rose stopping her quickly as Jasper started laughing again.**

**“I see how you do it now Rose. You want gems after they’re worthless, you wait until after they’ve lost, because when you’re at the bottom… You’ll follow anyone, who makes you feel like less, of a failure” Jasper trailed off, the pain was getting to her.** **“Just look at this one! You’ve stripped her of everything! Her limb enhancers, her status, her dignity”**

**“I still have one of those things” Peridot replied**

**“How could you side with Rose Quartz!? Why? Why protect this useless shell of a planet?” Jasper asked**

**“It’s not a shell, there’s so much life, living here, that’s what I’m doing! I’m living here! I’ve been learning new stuff about myself all the time, like how I can make metal do my bidding!” Peridot exclaimed, the piece of metal she had been trying to use earlier falling from the ledge and down to the sand of the canyon. “The point being, Earth can set you free”**

**“Earth, is a prison. I got out because I’m better then this place” Jasper said, the greenish patches spreading up her other arm and onto her chest.**

**“It’s getting worse” Rose said**

**“I only came back to finish you off” Jasper glared at Rose with hatred, if it wasn’t for Rose the war would never have started, if it wasn’t for Rose the Beta kindergarden wouldn’t have been so rushed, if it wasn’t for Rose she would have never been created, she hated Rose.**

**“Try not to move” Rose warned her**

**“You can’t manipulate me Rose Quartz!” she shouted as she pointed at the smaller gem**

**“I’m not manipulating, I’m trying to help”**

**“Help? HELP!? I’VE BEEN FIGHTING, FROM THE SECOND I BROKE FREE OF THE EARTH’S CRUST, BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID TO MY COLONEY! BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID TO MY PLANET! BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID TO MY DIAMOND!”** **Jasper screamed**

**“I- Yellow Diamond?” Jasper made a startled noise, anger, sadness, pain, mixing together as she stared at Rose in shock and horror. “MY DIAMOND! YOUR DIAMOND! PINK DIAMOND!”**

They watched in horror as the memory faded to black, saddened frowns covered their faces as they walked towards the light, they didn't want to discuss the memories, they wanted to find Jasper.

They walked into the light, blinded for a moment as the whole atmosphere changed. It had shifted from cold and terrifying to warm and comforting in a matter of seconds, it was a very welcome change. They looked around, surprised by the change in their surroundings.

Beautiful trees of all kinds stood tall around the new area, leaves swaying gently in the wind. Amazing flowers of all kinds littered the area, leaving room for polished stone walkways, a large fountain at the center of the garden, water flowing down from platform to platform gracefully.

"Well this is a big change, where are we?" Amethyst asked as she looked around

"It looks like Pink Diamond's private gardens, but I only went there once, so I can’t be sure" Skinny replied as she looked around curiously, taking in every detail of the bright, sunny area.

A soft rustle of grass could be heard, everyone looked around for the source but couldn’t find anything. The garden around them was tranquil, inviting, they couldn’t find a single threat, no matter where they looked.

Garnet was suddenly tackled to the ground with a startled yelp, an animal growling inches away from her face, snarling angrily as its fur bristled, not liking intruders in its home.

The shock soon wore off enough for everyone to take a good look at the familiar looking animal, the orange fur disrupted by bright red stripes, fiery amber eyes, pupils narrowed into angry slits, fangs bared in a snarl. Large paws pinning Garnet to the ground, fearsome claws glinting threateningly in the light, its nose was replaced with a familiarly cut gemstone.

"Jasper?"


	17. Healing

Jasper looked up from the intruding fusion at the sound of her name, her fiery amber eyes wide in surprise, the growl disappearing from her throat in an instant. Her shapeshifted ears perked in surprise and interest. 

She stepped off the fusion, her ears flattening again in confusion and fear. She was hallucinating her sisters. It looked as if they were standing before her, but that was impossible, they were dead. They died during the war, they couldn’t possibly be there.

She could feel herself tearing up, her gem-space was messing with her now in the worst way possible, and she wouldn’t stand for it. Powerful muscles tensed under thick, striped fur, eyes narrowed trying to will away the tears. 

She turned and ran, large, shapeshifted paws thudding against the ground powerfully as she sprinted away from the hallucinations of her departed sisters. She could hear their sweet voices calling her name as she ran, she could hear their phantom footsteps as they sprinted after her, tears slipping into the fur on her cheeks. 

She ran through the garden of her gem-space, the one place she had ever felt safe in her entire existence. Before it was tainted with visions of her sisters, and that damned fusion. 

A growl rose in her throat again, how dare that fusion show up in her gem-space and defile her sacred area, her very being! She snarled as she ran faster, jumping up into one of the trees. Pale pink leaves and flowers brushing against her silky fur as her claws dug into the pale wood beneath her paws as she climbed higher. 

She could hear them shouting at her, she didn’t want to hear it. She climbed higher and higher, jumping from the highest branch that could support her weight and into the neighbouring tree, landing gracefully on a branch. Powerful muscles tensing with the landing as she climbed down the tree quickly back to the lush, green grass. 

She could hear them chasing after her as she ran, her tail waving wildly behind her from the speed. If they thought they could catch her they were sorely mistaken, they were in her gem-space, she knew it better then anyone, it was in her gem, it was her property.

She heard fast patter behind her, a familiar voice. She dared a look over her shoulder to see a small red quartz running after her, Carnelian. She ran faster, trying to avoid the hallucinations, it was better than pretending they were real, only for them to be ripped away from her again. 

Jasper yelped as Carnelian barreled into her, knocking her off her paws and sending them both tumbling to the ground. Jasper got up and shook herself, prepared to run again when she realised they had surrounded her. Familiar faces of her sisters, the fusion, Amethyst, even Rose all looked down at her, but she couldn’t even feel mad at them, she was just staring at her sisters as tears started coming again, slipping into her shapeshifted cheek fur once more. 

She started crying, crying out for her sisters, all the pent-up emotions of sadness and anger being released in saddening cries. Her ears flattened as she cried loudly, crying over all the years of abuse on Homeworld, all the scolding and insults. 

She could feel strong arms around her, the familiar scent of dust and sandstone filled her gemmed nose. No hallucination she had ever seen could be smelt, heard or even touched, could they possibly be there? With her and alive after all those years?

She could feel their arms around her, their own tears hitting her fur as her form changed back to normal, the fur and paws changing back to her normal skin, hands and feet. Her tail disappearing from existence and her hair growing back out. 

They hugged her as they cried, Jasper couldn’t believe they were actually there, with her, she cried with them, not even caring that the fusion, Amethyst and Rose were also there, she didn’t want to ruin the one good thing she had. 

They stayed like that for who knows how long, crying as they clung to each other, just happy that they were reunited after so many years apart. 

The cries eventually faded to sniffles as they started to calm down, refusing to move from the comfort circle as they hugged each other, Jasper smiled, for the first time since the end of the war she actually smiled.

She remained in the embrace, enjoying the company of her sisters she had believed were dead. Not even caring that Rose or that damned fusion was there, she didn’t want to ruin one of the happiest moments of her life. 

“H-How?” She stuttered out, barely able to believe what was right before her eyes. 

“Yellow Diamond didn’t want us so Blue Diamond took us in” Skinny explained, looking her in the eyes but never breaking the embrace they all shared. 

 

“We’ve been tending to Pink Diamond’s human zoo, taking care of her humans” Carnelian grinned, happy her big, buff sister was with them once more.

Jasper didn’t reply, snuggling into the embrace as their hugs tightened around her, enjoying having her sisters back after all those years.  
“How did you all get in here exactly?” Jasper finally spoke, confusion lacing her husky voice 

“We had to see you, so Steven brought us in” Bee replied looking over at the half gem

Jasper looked over to where Rose stood with Amethyst, she glared at him for a moment before her gaze softened once more. Her sisters would never have been deceived by Rose, she just felt so stupid for calling the small, thing, Rose all that time. 

Ros- no, Steven, looked at her with innocent brown eyes. She almost sighed in disappointment, he really wasn’t Rose, she would never be able to ask Rose the questions she wanted so desperately to have answers to.

“Thank you, Steven, for bringing my sisters to me” Steven, the name felt foreign on her tongue, she felt so awkward calling him by that name, even if it was the correct name to use.

Steven just smiled at her, a goofy grin stretching across his face, reminded her of Carnelian. She took a glance back at her tiny sister to reassure herself Carnelian was still there. 

“Jasper, do you still hate me?”

Jasper looked up at Amethyst, for a moment wondering what the small gem was talking about before she remembered every time she called Amethyst defective or wrong, almost made her wince. 

“No, I never did….” Jasper trailed off, unable to explain why she had called Amethyst all those mean names

“Woah, its ok, I understand. You thought Carnelian was dead and I look like Carnelian, its understandable you wouldn’t be too happy seeing me” Amethyst smiled reassuringly, making sure Jasper knew she wasn’t mad

“I’m sorry I ran, I thought I was hallucinating…. Wouldn’t have been the first time I’ve hallucinated you all” she looked at her sisters sadly as horror flashed across their faces, making Jasper concerned that they knew something she didn’t know.

She was about to ask why they looked so horrified when her eyes landed on the fusion again, her eyes narrowed in rage, molten amber glaring towards the fusion before her in pure anger.

“I know why you’re all here, but why is she here?” she growled out, venom dripping from her words as she glared at Garnet in anger, hating that a fusion was in her gem space, so close to her sisters.

“She came with us to make sure you’re ok” Sia explained quietly, startling Jasper enough to jump slightly, making her blush in embarrassment.

She was always close with Sia, especially after Swift’s death, the fact that she was so comfortable near Garnet, reassured her a lot. If Sia could be comfortable in the presence of a fusion, even though a fusion had taken away her love, then she could at least tolerate Garnet.

“Jasper the inside of your gem is really pretty” Steven complimented happily, grinning ear to ear as he moved to sit beside Skinny

“Thanks” Jasper replied, a genuine smile slipping onto her face again “Its Pink Diamond’s private garden, just as I remember it” 

“This is what it looked like?” Steven asked surprised as he looked around in curiosity, trying to memorize every detail to tell Connie when he saw her tomorrow.

All their forms started fading suddenly, causing a new wave of panic to fill Jasper’s body, tears springing to her eyes as she watched them start to fade. “W-What’s going on?”

“Looks like we’re waking up” Steven explained, sadness lacing his voice that their time with Jasper was over so soon

“Don’t worry Jasper, we’ll pop the bubble and let you out” Carnelian reassured her happily

“Just think about your form, and try your best to reform normally” Stripes added

With one last hug and a ‘we’ll see you soon’ they were gone, fading from her gem space and leaving her alone once more. Nothing but the rustling of the pink tree leaves and the soft bubbling of the central fountain left.

Steven sat up sleepily, stretching as he yawned softly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as the gems around him rose from their slumber. He could see the sun rising over the horizon, the barn was dark, no lights seen the previous night were on, it was dark and quiet, soft snores from the gems inside the barn could be heard only faintly from where they were. 

Bee grabbed the bubble quietly as they started filing out of the area, leaving the blankets and pillows behind as they gathered in the field to see what would happen, all silently praying that Jasper would be healed. Even though they knew that probably wouldn’t be the case.

They popped the bubble silently, watching as Jasper’s gem began to glow faintly before growing to a bright glow as her gem levitated into the air. Light expanding out from her gem and trying to take form, it looked normal, which brightened their hopes. 

That was until the light formation started to change shape, getting bulkier and gaining spikes, their smiles however, still remained on their faces as Jasper landed on the ground with a thud.

They watched Jasper stand up onto all fours, some of the spikes Steven and Amethyst had previously seen her with were gone, her eyes now showing even if her teeth remained jagged fangs. Her hands and feet still clawed, paw-like appendages. 

She looked at them all, scared amber eyes stared back at them, they could tell she was in there, she knew what was going on, she was scared she hadn’t come back right. 

They ran towards her, hugging her happily, careful to avoid the spikes. Her tail started wagging causing a chorus of ‘awes’ from all of them.  
Jasper tried to speak, it only coming out in growls and barks, they frowned but were still happy that she was there at all. She seemed discouraged at her inability to speak, they quickly made it their job to praise her for healing herself even partially.

They spent hours talking with her, telling her stories from the human zoo, stories of Holly, the humans they had cared for in the zoo, even stories of things they had done since joining the crystal gems.

Jasper had let out angered growls when they had told her they joined the crystal gems, her anger didn’t last long when they hugged her again and told her of how Yellow Diamond had planned to kill them, which made Jasper even angrier but for a different reason. She snarled loudly at the information that Yellow Diamond, her boss, had tried to kill her sisters, it made her sick.

By the time the others had woken up the sun was climbing higher and higher into the sky, the sky turning a pale shade of blue as the Amethyst’s emerged from the barn with Holly, Lapis, Peridot and Pearl, all of them shocked by what they saw. 

In the hours since unbubbling her, they had helped Jasper as much as they could, they still had a long way to go before Jasper was fully healed, but at the very least she was walking on two legs, could speak once more, and most of the spikes had receded, it had taken a long time and they knew it would take longer to fully heal the stubborn quartz, but they had made lots of progress. At least she was ok, even if she was still partially corrupted, it still made them happy to have her around.

Everyone was shocked to see Jasper, standing before them, spikes, horns, and discoloration covered her body, but she at least looked remotely normal, it was very surprising. The Amethyst’s rushed over, asking all kinds of questions to the Beta’s before Jasper spotted a familiar face.

“8XF?”

“In the flesh” Sharky replied, showing of her fanged teeth to Jasper with pride. “But everyone calls me Sharky now” 

“Because of your teeth?” Jasper asked 

“Yeah!” Sharky exclaimed happily

Jasper just wanted to hug her, they had been best friends during the war, they always had each other’s back, they saved each other thousands of times! She just wanted to hug her and never let her go, but she knew she couldn’t, she had spike sticking out of her arms and she didn’t want to hurt her old friend.

Jasper looked out over the sea of purple gems, she had seen more Amethyst’s together at a time then that, but it still surprised her.

“These are my prime sisters I told you about 4XJ” Sharky grinned with pride, wrapping her arms around Jay and Chip happily.

“Nice to meet you all” Jasper smiled, she had heard so many stories of the other prime Amethyst’s it was almost overwhelming to finally meet them all.

The day went by, Jasper started to grow used to being surrounded by all the happy gems, however Lapis and Peridot still kept their distance, and Jasper was more then ok with that. She didn’t want to be anywhere near the gem who had poofed her, or Lapis.

She could tell Pearl and Garnet were more then cautious that she might want to fuse with Lapis again, but she truly did not want to. She was perfectly content enjoying the company of her sisters and her best friend after thousands of years feeling as if she was alone, but she wasn’t anymore.


	18. It's Christmas Holly!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, this is the Christmas special, I hope you all like it  
> have a Peri Christmas and a Lappy New Year

Holly sat on the couch reading her book quietly, trying to tune out the chaos going on around her. Everyone was dashing about like crazy, it confused her greatly, but she didn’t have the nerve to ask what was going on. Specifically, because the only one who would possibly listen to her was Pearl, who sat at the other end of the couch doing something strange with two shiny sticks and a ball of string.

Holly looked up at the sudden silence in the temple, everyone was gone except for Steven, and Jasper who sat in the corner behind the strange tree they had brought inside, she had been hiding behind it a lot lately. Returning her gaze to Steven she realised it might be her chance to inquire about everyone’s strange behaviour.

She stood silently, placing her book on the table as she made her way over to the small half gem.

“Steven, what is all the ruckus about?” She asked quietly as Steven looked up from the sandwich he was making

“They’re preparing for Christmas! Trying to get all their presents in order” Holly couldn’t help but tilt her head to the side in confusion, her eyebrows furrowing slightly at the puzzling explanation.

“What is ‘Christmas’?” She asked

“Oh it’s a special day where you give your loved ones gifts to show how much you care” Steven smiled, “Some people buy things other make things, it usually means more if you make the gifts yourself” Steven explained with a goofy grin

“Make gifts? Myself?” Holly asked, tilting her head to the side once more

“Yeah, you can make gifts for all the Famethyst if you wanted to” Steven grinned at her

“I could?”

“yeah!”

* * *

Holly spent hours thinking, trying to figure out the perfect gift to give her Amethyst’s, and her shy little raspberry quartz. She grew frustrated with each passing minute as she couldn’t possibly think up gifts for them to show how much she cared.

She thought of what they liked, things they had been talking about recently, she wondered if it was possible to make dresses for them or something.

‘Who am I kidding? I don’t know how to do that, and even if I did I would probably mess it up somehow…’

Holly stood outside the temple door nervously, staring at the Pearl gemstone on the door as she fiddled with her capelet nervously. She let out a shaky breath and opened the door to Pearl’s room silently, biting the inside of her cheek as she walked into the beautiful room with the sound of Pearl’s waterfalls filled her ears.

“Ah Hello Holly can I help you?”

Holly jumped slightly at the sudden voice of the smug Pearl on one of the waterfalls. Shaking like a leaf as she looked up at Pearl who stood on her waterfall with her hands on her hips and looking down her nose at the nervous agate.

Holly tried to explain herself, but it only came out in nervous whispers that made Pearl’s face change from smug to absolutely confused in a matter of seconds.

“Holly if you need something you need to speak up”

“Can you teach me how to sew!?” Holly blurted out suddenly, her voice a bit louder then she intended to sound

“Pardon?”

“Steven was telling me about Christmas and I want to make Jay a makeup thing for those brushes Amethyst said she’s going to get her, Sharky a blanket because she’s always complaining she’s cold and Chip a big cushion for her to cuddle and sleep on, but I don’t know how to sew” Holly explained “Garnet said you know how to sew so please help me with this Pearl, I know you don’t like me and frankly you scare me, but I really need your help I want to do something special for them” Holly blurted out quickly

Holly looked up at Pearl hopefully, the normally smug gem looked stunned, like she couldn’t believe Holly was standing there asking for her help.

“Please Pearl” Holly pleaded

Pearl slowly descended from the waterfall, walking towards Holly silently as the blue gem grew more and more nervous with each step.

“Alright, I will help you”

“Really? Oh, thank you Pearl” Holly sighed in relief

“Ill go picks up the things and we can get started later”

“Ok”

~~Chip~~

Chip lay on the floor happily coloring with Steven, both were making their Christmas presents quietly. They lay on their stomachs as they colored, their feet kicking in the air lazily and their tongues cutely sticking out of their mouths in focus.

“Do you think she’ll like it Steven? I don’t know if Holly even likes things like this” Chip said, biting her lip softly as she looked at the small half gem.

“She’ll love it Chip, who wouldn’t want a fun coupon!?” Steven exclaimed, a goofy grin spreading across his face as he looked up from his own hand-colored coupon for snuggles.

“Easy for you to say you’re cute and Garnet loves snuggles of course she’ll like your coupon, I have no idea about Holly though…” Chip trailed off

“What are you two doing in here?” Both of them jumped nearly a foot in the air, startled out of their conversation and their coloring. Booming laughter filling the room from the two gems who lay on their backs laughing so hard Chip was worried they might dissipate their forms.

“Jay, Sharky that isn’t funny!” Steven whined as the two big Amethysts slowly got up from their laughing fits.

“You’re right Steven, its hilarious!” Sharky exclaimed, grinning with her sharp teeth at the small half gem “You two jumped like a foot in the air”

“Whatcha makin?” Jay asked, looking over Chip’s shoulder curiously at the piece of paper

“We cant tell you!” Steven exclaimed, a goofy grin on his face Chip knew why, Steven was making ‘snuggle-pons’ for everyone, he couldn’t give away his surprise.

“Chip come outside with us, Garnet and Amethyst are going to show us how to have a snowball fight!” Jay grinned, her eyes sparkling like little tiny stars in her excitement.

“I can’t I’m working”

“Come on Chip please!” Sharky pleaded, hugging the smaller quartz tightly

“I said no!” Chip yelled, squirming her way out of Sharky’s grip and walking to the kitchen

“Hey Chippy, I forgot to ask, what did you get Holly?” Jay asked politely

“Chocolate **chip** cookies, right?” Sharky asked, earning a smack on her arm from Jay

“Actually, I’m giving her a coupon for one-hundred free snuggles” Chip smirked over her shoulder at their shocked faces as she cleaned up her mess from the floor Jay snapped out of it first, following Chip into the kitchen with swanlike grace as Sharky struggled to regain her power of speech over the shock that Chip, the shyest out of the Prime quartzes, was giving Holly a present that held such intimate promises, Quartzes only cuddled with those they felt very close to, who they would trust their life with, it was sacred. Holly knew that well, and so did Chip.

“That’s an amazing idea, Holly will love it” Jay smiled, throwing her arm around Chip’s shoulders gently and hugging her close with one arm

“What are you two doing for Holly?” Steven asked

“I’m making her a hairbrush, Garnet is helping me make it” Jay answered from where she sat with her arm around the blushing Raspberry Quartz

“I got her a pretty shawl, its blue, white and purple” Sharky grinned

“Those are awesome gift’s, Holly will love them”

~~Holly~~

“You’re doing great Holly; those stitches are flawless”

It was weird to hear Pearl praising her, it was oddly pleasing to hear the compliments from the normally smug gem

“Careful to keep the stitches on the line”

Pearl had been coaching her on sewing for weeks, she had finished the cushion for Chip and the Blanket for Sharky (Which had been much easier then she expected) but sewing the makeup brush roll-bag for Jay had turned out to be extremely difficult and Pearl was doing her best to coach Holly on how to sew it properly.

“That looks amazing Holly, Jay will love it”

Holly and Pearl still had their differences, but it seemed they had reached an unspoken agreement of a truce for the holidays. They were definitely not friends, they both knew as soon as the holiday season was over they would go right back to Pearl being smug and Holly being terrified, but they didn’t seem to care.

“There you go you’re done, just roll it up like this, then tie it up like this and there, perfect, she’s going to love it”

Holly smiled up at Pearl as she held the roll, Pearl dragging out the box of wrapping supplies containing bows, wrapping paper, ribbon and name tags which made Holly smile at the thin gem.

~~Christmas Morning~~

All the gems rose one by one from their slumber, excited grins and starry eyes as they woke the other sleeping gems in the room.

Sitting around the room, quiet chatter as Pearl and Garnet organized the presents, quietly talking about how much their lives had changed since the last Christmas.

“Alright everyone quiet please!” Pearl squawked over the chatter

The room quieted, an air of excitement hanging in the room as they waited for the next announcement about the gifts everyone had carefully selected for their loved ones.

“Now how we usually do this is there’s a small stack of presents for each person, so find your stack and have a seat so everyone can find their stack as easily as possible” Pearl explained

“Find your stack” Garnet added as she walked over to her own stack and sat down silently to watch as everyone went looking for their stacks, some tripping from the excitement.

Holly remained half hidden behind the tree, she had left the presents to be sorted but she doubted she had a pile. Everyone was so preoccupied with getting gifts for everyone she doubted anyone remembered she even existed, so she just sat there to watch the festivities of the holiday Steven was so excited about.

“Yo Holly what are you doing back there?”

Holly jumped in surprise, nearly knocking over the beautifully lit and decorated tree by accident at the sudden voice. She looked over at the grinning face of Sharky who grabbed the startled Agate by and hand and dragged her out from behind the Christmas tree and into the open area of the room.

“Come on Holly, we can’t start until you’re at your pile!”

She had a pile? She couldn’t fathom the idea of them getting her gifts, of course she had made them all gifts, but she had never imagined they liked her enough to get her gifts.

Sharky led the confused Agate over to her pile, carefully wrapped presents stacked neatly on top of one another, blue bows, green bows, red bows, and very popular, purple bows, with every color and design of wrapping paper.

“Ok now everyone pick the present you want to open first and we’ll get started” Pearl said with a small smile

Everyone shifted through their piles to pick their present, but Holly was still surprised that she had presents at all. There was even one from Pearl, that one surprised her the most.

* * *

 

They all sat around the room in little groups to talk about their presents, some of them pairing off to go do other things, Garnet had unfused after unwrapping her presents, leaving two tiny gems in her place for their presents. Steven had been very excited to see them, and they had even officially introduced themselves to the Famethyst and Holly, who had gotten a bit nervous being around Sapphire again, but Sapphire understood.

“What is this?” Holly asked, picking up a small but brightly decorated piece of paper

“It’s a coupon” Chip replied, a slight tremor in her voice

“A coupon for free snuggles?” Holly asked as she read the coupon, eyes wide knowing the intimacy that snuggles held for quartzes, that Chip would give her such a gift was heartwarming.

"Chip, I don't know what to say.  Thank you" she could barely keep her voice from trembling as she looked at the timid quartz.

Chip nodded silently, her own blush stretching across her face as she sat at her pile of presents.

“Woah Holly did you make this?” Holly looked over to Jay to see the large quartz holding the make up brush-roll bag in her hands, stars in her eyes as she unrolled it to look inside.

“Y-Yes I did, P-Pearl helped me make it” Holly stuttered out, hoping they would like their gifts that she had made

“You worked with Pearl? I’m impressed” Sharky grinned as she wrapped an arm around Holly’s shoulders

“It’s beautiful Holly, I love it”

* * *

After hours of unwrapping, joyful conversation, hot chocolate and movies followed, the Christmas spirit filling the room, smiles on every face.

Ruby and Sapphire cuddled up on the couch happily, snuggled up under a purple blanket giggling and kissing in such a cute way that no one could be angry with them over their giggles.

The Amethyst’s and Beta’s had grouped together in their own quartz-cuddle-piles, groups of two or three, sometimes four, all cuddled together with soft blankets and fluffy hair.

Holly had cashed the coupon for free snuggles and sat in the corner quietly cuddling with Chip, Jay and Sharky, who had joined in on the pair, cuddling holly happily.

Holly couldn’t have been happier; the Christmas holiday had brought her happiness and love that she hadn’t imagined feeling at the beginning of the season. She even had an excuse for cuddles, no matter how insecure she got, she still had the coupon for cuddles from Chip, it was reassuring.

Several gems had been caught under the ‘mistletoe’ as Steven called it, he said anyone who got caught under it has to kiss the other person under it, the twins had found themselves under it with Jasper, kissing both of Jasper’s cheeks at the same time making the solider blush bright red.

Bee, Stripes and Sia had been the next victims of the ‘mistletoe’ which had ended up with all three of them in a makeout session on the floor, Pearl moving Steven away from the ‘inappropriate behaviour’ while Ruby and Sapphire just grinned at the beautiful relationship.

Holly just hoped she didn’t end up under it, even if she wouldn’t mind kissing her quartzes again.

She couldn’t imagine a more perfect first Christmas.

“Hey Holly, we have something for you” Jay started, smiling at the blue gem in delight

“What is it?” Holly asked, confusion lacing her voice, she thought they had already given her gifts

She looked over at Chip, who held a ring of some sort of plant, with weird red balls on it and scratchy looking green leaves.

“What is that?”

“It’s a crown, its made from a plant Steven showed us” Chip grinned

“Yeah, it’s called Holly too, isn’t that weird?” Sharky grinned at her, taking the crown from Chip and placing it on Holly’s head gently. “There, perfect”

“Thank you” Holly replied, a blush lightly dusting her cheeks

“We do have one more thing for you Holly” Chip started again

“Something else?” Holly asked Holly flushed a dark purple color from her blush, three soft pairs of lips catching her by surprise, one on each cheek from Sharky and Chip, and Jay kissing her lips gently.

Indeed, it was a perfect first Christmas.


	19. Blue Jay

It was another sunny Beach City day, people walking on the boardwalk, others working in the various carnival games or food stands to serve the summer tourists. The wind was non-existent, making for an extremely hot summer day with barely any relief from the sweltering heat.

The gems were cooped up inside the temple enjoying the heavenly cold that the air conditioning system supplied for them. The Famethyst were sprawled out everywhere, some snuggling with each other despite the intense heat of the summer day. 

Steven and Amethyst had their focus trained on one particular Amethyst. One whose behaviour had been bothering them for several days: Jay.

Jay had been acting very strange for several days, she never smiled anymore, she never even went near the other Quartzes, not even Sharky or Chip. She was always by herself, sitting on the window seat looking out at the ocean in a daze.

Her gaze was sad, they had never seen her look so depressed, they had never seen the Famethyst so calm when one of their own was acting so weird, it confused them, and made them even more anxious for an explanation.

Steven tugged on Sharky’s pant leg, effectively gaining the attention of the muscular quartz. 

“What’s up Steven?” 

“What’s wrong with Jay?” He asked, looking up at the fanged Amethyst in concern, his worry for the sad quartz at the window showing through his eyes.

Sharky looked over to Jay before looking back to Steven, a calm expression over her face, well at least as calm as Sharky could get. “Oh, she’s ok Steven, she just gets like that around this time of year” 

“Why? What’s so special about this time of year?” Amethyst asked from behind Steven, her own curiosity getting the better of her.

“No clue, she just gets like this for several days, sometimes she disappears for a full day without a trace, then she comes back as if nothing happened, we’ve grown numb to it over the years” Sharky explained

“You never asked her where she went?” Steven questioned

“Believe me squirt we tried, she just danced around our questions and went about her daily routine until we stopped asking altogether”

The conversation ended there when Chip and Holly dragged Sharky away somewhere, leaving Steven and Amethyst alone, their worry growing with every passing second.

 

Jay sighed, staring out the window of the slow-moving ocean that stretched into the distance, the calm waters rolling softly with small waves as the sunlight shined off its surface making the water sparkle. 

‘Like Dawn’ 

She winced softly, ripping her saddened gaze from the water to look around the room. The other quartzes in the room were snuggling, talking, laughing, even wrestling, much to the annoyance of a certain pearl.

She stood from the soft cushion of the window seat, catching the attention of several gems as she made her way to the warp pad, the soft patter of her footsteps being the only noise in the otherwise silent room.

She approached the crystalline surface silently, admiring the smooth, sparkling surface for a moment before a hand found its way to her shoulder, startling her out of her daze as she looked over her shoulder at the taller gem that stood behind her.

Garnet stood behind her silently, a saddened frown on her face, her visor gone from sight, revealing her stunning heterochromatic eyes glistening with tears. Jay was shocked, why was Garnet so sad? 

Garnet nodded silently, confusing the other occupants of the room, Jay had to will her own tears away as she understood Garnet’s message. She stepped onto the warp pad and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving them all behind. 

 

Jay returned late that night, walking past everyone and back to her seat at the window to stare out at the ocean once more. The others ignored her weird behaviour, used to it after centuries of her acting like that.

Steven and Amethyst stared at her in concern, she was acting so weird, she hadn’t even looked at anyone when she came in. 

“Hey Garnet, what was with the exchange earlier?” Amethyst looked up at her stoic leader

“Do you know what’s wrong with Jay?” Steven asked, standing beside Amethyst.

Garnet remained stoic and silent, no words leaving her mouth as she went into her room, the temple door sliding open to allow her through, leaving them surprised and confused.

Steven and Amethyst grew more and more concerned as days went by, Jay’s behaviour wasn’t getting any better, she kept disappearing through the warp pad and when they had asked Pearl about it she said that Jay was going to a different battlefield every day, she seemed to be searching for something, but what?

They watched Jay disappear through the wrap stream again, none of the others even batted an eye as she left. Steven and Amethyst wouldn’t stand for it anymore.

“Ok that’s it, we’re going to see what she’s doing!” Amethyst yelled, she was worried for Jay, but she hated how the others pretended not to care.

“Amethyst we should really give her privacy, she obviously wants to be alone” Pearl warned

“I don’t care, she’s acting so depressed, we’re worried about her! Do what you want, but we’re going to follow her and see what’s wrong, we don’t care what you think” Amethyst snapped, Steven nodding his agreement as they both turned and stormed to the warp pad, disappearing in the stream of light just as Jay had done moments prior.

They arrived in an old battlefield, the sun setting behind them, casting a dying light on the abandoned weapons covered by greenery. It looked like the strawberry field, except beautiful purple flowers grew everywhere on the ancient battleground, covering every weapon in delicate violet petals.

It was hard to imagine the battle that had been fought their thousands of years ago, it was so beautiful they couldn’t believe such a horrible thing could have happened there. The Famethyst appeared in a stream of light behind them, looking around the battlefield quietly, all eyes searching for Jay. 

 

Jay stood amongst the discarded weapons, the shimmering form of another Amethyst stood before her, a hologram of a gem that once was. Nothing but a memory Jay held close to her heart, a projection from her gem of the dearly departed quartz. Shining, loving eyes staring back at Jay, short, fluffy hair with two curls framing her cheeks. The glittering gemstone embedded in her stomach, tinted violet by the hologram.

“Sharky who is that?” Amethyst whispered to the larger quartz, noticing the anger rolling off her prime sisters in waves.

“Amethyst 8XD” she spat out, keeping her voice low as to not alert Jay to the spying eyes watching her.

“Woah what’s with the ‘tude?” Amethyst asked, the hostility in Sharky’s voice was strange, foreign, it didn’t belong there.

“8XD betrayed us” Gina growled.

“She left to join the rebels in the midst of the war, no offense to you guys” Kay added quickly, making sure not to offend Amethyst or Steven.

“None taken” Steven smiled at them.

“Hard to remember that you were against Pearl and Garnet during the war sometimes” Amethyst added.

They returned to watching Jay, their minds racing with questions about what Jay was doing, in an abandoned battlefield, with a hologram of a gem who betrayed her friends.

Jay took a few steps towards the hologram, pulling a small necklace out from under her uniform. A simple, silver chain with a little bottle hanging on the end, a bottle filled with glittering purple shards.

She couldn’t help but tear up, she hated the spring season, too many painful memories of the war. The shards of her friends and loved ones decorating the ground, destined to be grounded into dust by Homeworld.

She brought the bottle to her lips, laying a soft kiss on the glass containing the shards. Tears fell from her eyes as she clasped the necklace around her neck silently, looking back at the violet hologram, staring back at her just as sad.

Jay knew the song by heart, she sung it every year, with the same hologram, the same bottle of shards. She usually spent the day locked away in an abandoned room of the zoo, away from the other quartzes as she sung, danced and cried with the hologram, remembering the gem long gone.

She stood across from the hologram, ready to start her yearly ritual once again. She never told the others about it, they asked but she didn’t tell, she couldn’t tell them she was sneaking off once a year, to dance with a hologram of a gem they believed betrayed them.

~No time for rest~

~No pillow for my head~

~Nowhere to run from this~

~No way to forget~

Jay walked closer to the hologram, singing softly as its lips matched hers, the shards in the bottle clinking softly against the glass with each movement she made.

~Around the shadows creep~

~Like friends they cover me~

~Just want to lay me down~

~And finally try to get some sleep~

Jay sung quietly, looking the projection in the eyes as they continued walking towards each other, mirroring each other’s movements perfectly, the wind blowing gently through Jays hair, the hair of the hologram remaining still.

~We carry on through the storm~

~Tired soldiers in this war~

~Remember what we’re fighting for…~

Jay trailed off, stopping just inches away from the projection, tearing up once more as she stared into the face of the holographic gem. The soft smile on her face as she stared down into Jay’s magenta eyes, Jay staring back into the glimmering, holographic eyes of her first love, who’s shards she carried in the bottle around her neck.

~Meet me on the battlefield~

~Even on the darkest night~

~I will be your sword and shield~

~Your camouflage~

~And you will be mine~

Jay summoned a holographic sword and shield in her hands, holding them in a way as if she were about to fight before relaxing her posture once more, letting the fake weapons disappear in shimmers of light.

~Echoes of the shots ring out~

Jay slammed her hands over her ears, tears streaming down her violet cheeks as she sang, the hologram following her movements silently.

~We may be the first to fall~

Jay let her hands fall from her ears, gripping her uniform over her stomach as she fell to her knees. The hologram followed suit, covering the gem on her stomach as it dropped to its knees in front of Jay.

~Everything could stay the same~

~Or we could change it all~

~Meet me on the battlefield…~

Jay trailed off again, rising too her feet with the projection, unknowing of the eyes watching her. Steven, Amethyst, the rest of the famethyst, all watching her, tears in their eyes as they watched her sing the sorrowful song.

Jay moved, standing inches away from the hologram once more, tears still rolling down her cheeks from the sadness which was almost as painful as being punched in the gut.

~We’re standing face to face~

~With our own gemstone race~

~We commit the sins again~

~And our loves and daughters pay~

The tears were coming faster, running down her cheeks to her chin and dripping down onto her chest, some hitting the bottle softly. Staring into the soft expression on the imagined gems face, unable to stop the tears.

~Our tainted history~

~Is playing on repeat~

~But we could change it~

~If we stand up strong and take the lead~

Jay turned around, unknowing of the gems hiding as she turned in their direction, her eyes locked on the ground before shooting up to look at the full moon hanging in the sky above her.

~When I was younger I was named~

~a generation unafraid~

~For the heirs to come~

~Be brave~

She spun around quickly, staring back at the protection as it once again copied her movements, her voice rising as she sang.

~And meet me on the battlefield~

~Even on the darkest night~

~I will be your sword and shield~

~Your camouflage~

~And you will be mine~

Summoning the holographic weapons, getting back into the fighting stance and relaxing herself, letting the weapons disappear once more.

~Echoes of the shots ring out~

~We may be the first to fall~

~Everything could stay the same~

~Or we could change it all~

Repeating her movements of putting her hands over her ears, gripping her uniform and falling to her knees, the projection mimicking her movements without a second to spare.

~Meet me on the battlefield…~

Jay stood once more, tears steaming down her face fast as she stared into the loving eyes of the hologram as her voice rose once more.

~Meet me on the battlefield~

~Even on the darkest night~

~I will be your sword and shield~

~Your camouflage~

~And you will be mine~

~Echoes of the shots ring out~

~We may be the first to fall~

~Everything could stay the same~

~Or we could change it all~

Repeating her motions again on specific lines, singing loudly, as if the loud singing could possibly keep her sobs at bay. Tears still streaming down her face as she lowered her voice once more.

~Meet me on the battlefield~

~Meet me on the battlefield…~

Her voice trailed off once more, sinking to her knees as the hologram walked over to her, hugging her tightly as she sobbed into her hands. 

“I'm sorry Dawn, I couldn't save you” Jay sobbed. 

Sharky, Chip and Holly couldn’t help it, they walked towards Jay silently. The hologram looking up at them before disappearing in a shimmer of light.

Steven, Amethyst and the other quartzes left, leaving through the warp stream to give the three gems the privacy they needed to make Jay feel batter.

Jay kept her knees pressed tightly to her chest, loud sobs slightly muffled by her hands, tears dripping onto her hands and running down her arms. Her shoulders shaking with her sobs that echoed out into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jay was singing the song Battlefield, I don't know who its by but you can probably find it somewhere  
> i imagined her singing the nightcore version so heres the link if you want to listen  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6GMVUrVLNc   
> i had to tweak a few lines to make more sense but thats the song jay sings


	20. Oh Holly

Jay knew she was no longer alone, she knew she looked horrible, sobbing into her hands uncontrollably over a gem who had been gone for thousands of years. Her hair fell over her shoulders, clinging to her arms as her shoulders shook from sobs.

 

She could feel their arms around her, their comforting words filling her ears as she tried to stop her pathetic crying. “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.

 

“Jay there’s nothing to be sorry for,” Chip whispered, her fingers running through Jay’s hair softly.

 

“Jay what was with the hologram? Why were you singing to 8XD?” Sharky asked, trying to keep the growl out of her voice at the thought of the traitor.

 

“Dawn didn’t betray us Sharky, she was shattered… Here on this battlefield…” Jay trailed off, gripping the grass beside her tightly. “Her shards are in here…” she trailed off again, pulling the glass bottle out of her shirt, the glittering purple shards clinking against the glass as the three gems gasped.

 

“All this time we thought she had betrayed us… You had her shards the whole time?” Chip asked, her bright pink eyes widening.

 

“Of course I did… I love her… I love you three, but I cant let her go… Not yet…” Jay said, the tears still slipping down her cheeks.

 

“You don’t have to Jay, we understand,” Holly comforted, placing a hand on Jay’s shoulder gently, as if the slightest pressure could break the crying Amethyst.

 

“Is this why you don’t want to be in an official relationship?” Sharky asked.

 

“I’m scared. Every relationship I had ended with my partner getting shattered…”

 

“We’re not in a war anymore Jay. We’re not going anywhere.” Chip smiled, hugging Jay gently as Sharky and Holly joined in.

 

“You’re right… I should give it a try…” Jay replied, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

 

“Only if you’re ready,” Sharky said, grinning at Jay.

 

“I am.” Jay smiled.

 

~~The next day. Holly POV~~

 

Holly woke from her sleep, the fluffy, blue blanket falling off her shoulders and pooling around her hips as she sat up. She yawned quietly, her sharpened teeth showing and her tongue sticking out just slightly with the yawn. Periwinkle eyes looking down at her three girlfriends, the four of them were now officially dating and Holly’s eyes were sparkling in joy.

 

A pair of feet stopped near her, just within her line of sight. She looked up, Garnet standing above her silently, a determined expression set on her face, even if Holly couldn’t see her eyes.

 

“Holly Blue Agate. We need to talk.”

 

Holly shrunk down, subconsciously pulling the blanket to her chest in a futile attempt to hide herself from the taller gem. She could feel her form shaking, her hands quivering as she held the blanket tightly in her grip. Garnet never called her by her full name, it was unnerving to say the least. She felt like a gemling being scolded for playing too roughly with her sisters.

 

“Please Holly, this is important,” Stripes asked from her spot behind Garnet.

 

Holly looked around the room, the Beta gems were looking at her with expressions she didn’t understand, and the Amethyst’s that were awake held confused stares that traveled from Garnet and the Beta’s to Holly herself.

 

Holly could hear the soft groans of her girlfriends as they awoke from their slumber. Soft, sleepy moans leaving their lips as they rose from their own blankets, looking at the other inhabitants of the room in newfound confusion.

 

“What’s going on here?” Jay asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

 

“Holly has some explaining to do,” Skinny piped up from where she sat, perched atop the counter with Carnelian, all hints of their usual humor gone from their eyes, making Holly shrink back in a sorry attempt to move further from the group. Especially when the Amethyst’s turned to look at her, their eyes staring at her, all of them waiting for answers to unasked questions.

 

“W-What do you want to know?” Holly mentally scolded herself for stuttering, she didn’t want them to know just how nervous she actually was, it didn’t seem like she would get that wish.

 

“For starters, why didn’t you tell us you knew about Buff?” Carnelian asked, a slight growl to her voice. Holly spared a glance over at Jasper, the muscular gem sat on the sofa between Rain and Leah, the twin Amethyst’s having taken a real liking to the newly healed quartz. Amber eyes stared back at her, unspoken gratitude for what the blue gem had done still remained after so many years, it almost made her blush.

 

“It never really came up. I wasn’t very nice at the zoo and we never really talked on a personal level, so I didn’t bring it up… I’m sorry.” Holly looked down, the polished wood floor suddenly becoming very interesting to her.

 

“And what of your actions? You intervened during a demonstration to save Jasper and the two Topazes from further harm, even though you knew you would get the beating for them,” Garnet questioned, the Amethyst’s eyes widening at the new information, staring at Holly with shocked expressions.

 

“I couldn’t watch them get hurt… They hadn’t done anything wrong,” the floor was still very interesting to her, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from it, she couldn’t look them in the eyes.

 

“Thank you Holly.” the voice of Sia came from in front of her. Holly looked up, the Beta’s stood teary eyed above her, appreciation sparkling in their eyes at her actions from thousands of years ago, something that Holly deemed too insignificant to remember in great detail. It meant so much to them it was almost overwhelming.

 

The Beta’s hugged her, their different sized arms circling around her, their tears soaking into her hair and dripping down her neck, but she didn’t dare stop them.

 

She let them hug her, crying onto her as they held her tightly, listening to them thanking her continuously until they were finished, stepping back to their original positions.

 

Holly looked up at Garnet, the stoic face of the fusion causing her to look back to the floor, trying to keep herself from panicking, even if Sharky, Jay and Chip were right beside her to comfort her if it came to that

 

“What of your superiors? What were your relationships with them?” Garnet asked, sitting on the ground cross-legged, eye level with Holly, who was doing her best to avoid any eye contact what so ever.

 

Holly couldn’t help but flinch at the mention of her superiors, her fellow Agates hated her, all but one, but she was gone.

 

“You’ve been avoiding my questions since you got to Earth, I need you to answer them,” Garnet said as she crossed her arms, her lips turned downwards into a frown.

 

Garnet was right, Holly had been avoiding the questions in any way she could. Talking about her superiors was the very last thing she wanted to do at the moment but she couldn’t avoid it forever.

 

“Alright, I’ll a-answer your questions,” she hated how her voice shook.

 

“How about we start with Blue Lace and Honey Agate,” Bee jumped in, the Beta’s giving her pitying looks as they looked at her.

 

“They trained me, they didn’t like me from the first day because I stepped in during the demonstration,” Holly started, periwinkle eyes glancing to Jasper once more. “When it became clear I didn’t like to hurt other gems they grew more forceful with my punishments….” She trailed off, placing a hand over her mouth as painful memories resurfaced, ones she had forced into the back of her mind for many years.

 

**“LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!” Honey Agate screamed, cracking her whip on Holly once more, making her fall to the cold, tiled floors, her bare skin hitting the cold tiles and making her shiver.**

 

**Another crack of the whip, a stinging pain on her shoulder, a cry of pain escaping her lips. Holly couldn’t stop the tears falling from her eyes, wishing she at least had her clothing for some form of protection, but that wasn’t the case.**

 

**Honey Agate loved humiliation, so did Blue Lace Agate but she wasn’t there, she was in the next room over, beating Baby Lace in what would most likely be a similar fashion to what Honey Agate was doing to Holly herself.**

 

**“Say it Holly Blue,” Honey Agate demanded, her molten gold eyes narrowing at the whimpering Agate. “STAND UP AND SAY IT LIKE AN AGATE!” she screamed.**

 

**Holly stood on shaking legs, wincing when she straightened her back. She moved her battered arms behind her back, feet together in the traditional Agate pose. She tilted her nose up, looking down her nose at Honey Agate with narrowed eyes. Holly could have sworn she saw her take a step backwards, but she was sure she imagined it.**

 

**“I am an Agate, we are made to keep other gems in line, through terror and brutality. I will not go soft on my garrison, I will not let any misbehaviour slide. I will be ruthless”**

 

All eyes in the room were wide, trained on the blue gem who continued to look at the floor, her eyes fixated on the polished wood, tears silently falling from her eyes, phantom injuries from the memory causing pain to shoot through her whole body.

 

“If you need to take a moment we understand Holly” Jay said, placing a gentle hand on Holly’s shoulder.

 

“No, I’m alright. It’s better if I get it all out now,” Holly replied, wiping her tears quietly.

 

“I wasn’t the only Agate who didn’t like to hurt other gems, I mentioned Baby Lace Agate before. She didn’t like to hurt other gems either, she couldn’t even summon her weapon because she hated it so much,” Holly explained still looking down at the floor as her hands fidgeted in her lap. “Baby Lace and I trained together, we had spent our whole lives together, and we were in love.”

 

Eyes widened once more, they never would have guessed Holly had a lover, they never heard anything about her until now. However they had a horrible feeling they were about to find out why.

 

“Unfortunately when Blue Lace Agate and Honey Agate found out they were less then pleased… They used our love for each other against us…”

 

**“Get in there.” Blue Lace snapped as she threw Holly into the room, joining Honey Agate as they watched the two younger Agates cling to each other desperately.**

 

**The two older Agates smirked at each other, summoning their whips in perfect sync from centuries of working together. Watching the light from the electric sparks from their whips dancing across the faces of the two young Agates. Smirks widening in satisfaction seeing the fear dancing in their eyes.**

 

**Baby Lace and Holly clung to each other, soft whimpers escaping their throats as the older Agates advanced on them. Their heels clacking loudly against the tile floor as they circled the two lovers.**

 

**Holly knew they were about to be beaten horribly for their love, but the secret was out. She took Baby Lace’s face in her hands, looking into the pale blue eyes that reflected her fear. She smashed her lips onto Baby Lace’s, kissing her passionately, receiving equal passion in return as she hugged her tightly. Enjoying their first kiss, even if they were about to be punished brutally.**

 

**They broke away from the kiss, their eyes widening at the new and sudden pain in their necks as they were ripped away from each other by the crackling whips of the older Agates. They slowly sat up, looking at each other before their attention was ripped away by the whips making contact with their skin.**

 

**They cried out in pain, the lashes were painful, burning their skin and leaving deep gashes and miscoloured marks all over their bodies.**

 

**Holly could feel her clothing giving away under the constant lashes, ripping in several places revealing her flawless blue skin that was soon marred with gashes and burns from the electricity.**

 

**She could hear Baby Lace crying out in pain, calling her name, but every time she tried to look for her kind-hearted lover she was met with a painful crack of Honey’s whip across her face, snapping her attention back to the gold gem, trying to ignore the searing pain in her cheek.**

 

**The hits didn’t stop, didn’t light up, Holly knew she wouldn’t last much longer, her physical form was giving out and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She looked to Baby Lace once more, a strangled cry of sadness escaping her throat, calling out Baby Lace’s name before Honey Agate’s whip tightened around her neck once more, collapsing her physical form and forcing her into her gem.**

 

“I retreated to my gem after that, I tried to regenerate as fast as possible. It was a rushed regeneration, my physical form was sloppy, and I kept that for a while, but when I came back Honey Agate and Blue Lace Agate were nowhere to be found, the room was empty. It was dark and cold, terrifying…”

 

**Holly looked around, blinking quickly to adjust to the dark room, it wasn’t the normal regeneration room she was used to reforming in. It was the same room she had been poofed in, only it was dark, the bright lights were gone and the older Agates were gone from the room. Was Baby Lace still in there? Regenerating just like she had?**

 

**Holly felt around, feeling for the smooth, flawless gemstone of her lover. Crawling around in the dark, her hand reached out in front of her searching for the baby blue gemstone.**

 

**A soft noise reached her ears when her fingers brushed against something, she felt for it once more, it felt weird, like little tiny pieces of something, mixed with some sort of dust.**

 

**Holly illuminated her gemstone, a soft glow filling the dark room from the gemstone on the back of her head, bathing the room in blue light. Holly looked down, her eyes widening as a gasp escaped her parted lips. Tears filled her eyes as she desperately picked the shards off the cold tile floor, tears falling onto the tiny slivers of what had been Baby Lace’s gem.**

 

**“B-Baby?” Holly stuttered. “If t-this is a joke it’s n-not funny,” She sniffled, looking around the room for any sign of the sweet and playful Agate. “P-Please tell me t-this is just some s-sick joke,” she whimpered, but she already knew it wasn’t.**

 

**Holly screamed, tears streaming down her face as she closed her fingers into a fist around the shards. Sobs wracked her body, her shoulders shaking as she held her hand close to her chest, tears slipping in-between her fingers and running down her arm.**

 

**She curled in on herself, clutching the fistful of shards close to her chest as she cried and screamed. Her cries echoing through the empty room as the light of her gem disappeared, leaving her in darkness once more.**

 

Holly couldn’t stop the sob that escaped her throat, putting her hands over her mouth to muffle further noises as tears streamed down her face. She almost jumped feeling hands on her shoulders, but more and more appeared, hugs or simple pats on the back in understanding and sadness at her loss.

 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Sharky asked, her voice soft and caring.

 

“It was my fault, I angered them, and they killed her…” Holly sniffled.

 

They all exchanged concerned glances over Holly’s head, unspoken conversations passing between them as Jay pulled the blue gem to her and Holly sobbed into her chest.

 

“It wasn’t your fault Holly, we’re sure it wasn’t your fault,” Kay said, moving to sit closer to the sobbing gem, rubbing her back gently. “You loved Baby Lace, they killed her because they wanted to, you had nothing to do with it.”

 

Holly sobbed, burying her face in Jay’s chest as she continued to cry, silently cursing herself for looking so weak. She couldn’t help it, the tears kept coming, wails of grief muffled by Jay’s chest as soothing hands rubbed her back, comforting words whispered into her ears.

 

Eventually her muffled sobs turned into sniffles, relaxing into the touch of the quartzes around her, listening to their soothing words. She looked up, looking around the room at all the saddened faces as Jay and Sharky gently wiped the tears from her cheeks.

 

“Do you want to go on Holly? You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Chip offered quietly.

 

“I’m ok.” Holly replied, giving a small smile to the shy Raspberry Quartz who hugged her in response.

 

Holly sighed, the next thing was something she didn’t wish to talk about in front of the quartzes. “Could you all leave please? I really don’t want to talk about this in front of you.”

 

“Why?” Sharky asked.

 

“What’s wrong Holly?” Jay.

 

“Please tell us Holly, we won’t think badly of you,” Sweet little Chip.

 

“That’s not what I’m afraid of…” Holly didn’t give them time to ask her what she meant.

 

**“Double check to make sure this base is spotless! Everything has to be perfect for Condor Agate,” Holly demanded, watching the quartzes leave quickly.**

 

**Holly was nervous, Blue Lace Agate and Honey Agate were no longer her superiors, she was thankful, but she was still nervous. She had never met Condor Agate before and she was determined to make a good first impression during the inspection, she had spent days cleaning, making sure every single room and habitat was spotless, even her own office.**

 

**She bit her bottom lip gently as she watched the ship pull in to dock, she straightened her posture, tilting her nose down to show her respect for her superior Agate as the door to the ship opened.**

 

**Condor Agate stepped out, shoulders squared, back straight, and her nose in the air. Unimpressed Amber eyes looking around at the clean docking bay before settling on the blue gem. "You must be Holly Blue Agate."**

 

**Holly was very impressed indeed, not only was Condor Agate intimidating but she was also very beautiful. Red hair pulled up into a singular bun, and ivory skin which held a slight purple tint.**

 

**"Yes, I'm supposed to give you a tour of the facilities for your inspection," Holly replied, thankful she had kept the stutter out of her voice.**

 

**"Very good, proceed."**

 

**Holly nodded, turning and leading the multicolored Agate through the halls, often passing the Amethyst's who were hard at work cleaning the water filters.**

 

**“Make sure that’s spotless!” Holly demanded, walking by the Amethyst’s who just rolled their eyes and continued their work.**

 

**Holly led Condor Agate through the facility, heading towards the bathing quarters which Holly had spend several hours scrubbing to make everything clean and perfect for the inspection, Condor Agate was from Yellow Diamond’s court, she would accept nothing but perfection.**

 

**“And here we have our bathing quarters,” Holly announced as she opened the doors, a startled gasp escaping her at the state of the room.**

 

**It was a disaster zone, brushes were on the floor, soap everywhere, water all over the floor, tables turned over, mirrors on their sides towels draped on misaligned stools, it was nothing like it had been when Holly finished cleaning.**

 

**“Is this how you keep the facilities?” Condor Agate asked, her amber eyes narrowing on Holly in anger as her form shook.**

 

**Holly was shaking for a different reason, her form quivering as her widened eyes looked up at the taller Agate. Condor Agate glared down her nose at Holly, making the smaller Agate shrink under the intense gaze.**

 

**Condor Agate summoned her whip, it was gold in color, with several white studs on the sides instead of the usual electricity she had grown accustomed to from Honey Agate and Blue Lace Agate.**

 

**“I s-swear I cleaned it, it w-was spotless earlier!” Holly pleaded, backing away from her angered superior, her voice shaking, her body shaking even more.**

 

**“YOU CALL THIS SPOTLESS!?” Condor Agate screamed, backhanding Holly and sending her sprawling to the floor with a soft whimper.**

 

**Condor Agate cracked her whip across Holly’s back, making the blue gem cry out, tears springing to her eyes and rolling down her cheeks silently as the lashes continued.**

 

**She felt the lashes on her back, butt and thighs, whimpering at each crack of the whip as it tore through her uniform and marred her flawless blue skin, discoloring it and leaving deep gashes.**

 

**She cried softly, the beatings had continued throughout the visit, rooms she had cleaned or inspected, ones that had been spotless were mussed and destroyed. She watched the ship depart, ending the inspection as Condor Agate left.**

 

**Holly crumpled to the floor, hearing the Amethysts and Beta’s bragging about messing up the rooms, hoping she had gotten in trouble for it, she definitely had, and it hurt that they wanted her to get in trouble. She couldn’t even bring herself to move, so she curled up behind some boxes in the docking bay and allowed her bruised and battered form to retreat to her gem.**

 

Holly looked up, tears forming in her eyes at the painful memories, shocked to see the horrified faces of the quartzes around her. She felt bad, she shouldn’t have told them what had happened, they hadn’t known she had been beaten to the point of poofing, they hadn’t known what they did would be taken out on her so horribly, she had never wanted them to know.

 

She suddenly felt many pairs of arms around her, strong muscles circling around her plush form, squeezing her tightly but still gently enough to keep her from poofing. Tears dripping onto her shoulders from the many quartzes hugging her.

 

“Now, now, what’s with the tears? I’m ok,” Holly reassured, wiping the tears from the eyes of the quartzes she could reach, giving them gentle smiles which were returned by sad and guilty frowns.

 

“We’re so sorry Holly,” Sharky apologised.

 

“We had no idea that would happen to you if we did that,” Jay added, more glistening tears falling down her cheeks.

 

“I’m ok, really, it was a long time ago, I’m perfectly fine,” Holly reassured once more, kissing the cheeks of her girlfriends gently and reassuring the other quartzes in the room who reluctantly agreed she was ok now.

 

Garnet soon shoo’ed the other quartzes outside, leading them out of the house to enjoy the sun and the beach as they gave the four girlfriends some much needed privacy.

 

They used their blankets to make a nest, gathering around Holly to cuddle together in the nest of blankets. Sharky and Jay kissing Holly’s lips, face and neck as Chip placed gentle kisses on Holly’s plush belly, causing the blue gem to giggle.

 

They continued to pamper her, kissing her and cuddling with her, waiting on her hand and foot. They felt so guilty for getting her hurt, and they were going to spend as much time as possible showing her how much they loved her.

 

Holly sighed happily, enjoying the pampering from her girlfriends as they kissed her and brought her, her favourite sugary beverage. She snuggled up to them, sighing once more as they relaxed into each other’s embraces, content smiles spreading across their faces.


End file.
